To Mrs. Ellen E. Gage Thompson
"I Care Not to Be There" (1854)
Ballad
Composed by
S. M. Grannis
of the
AMPHIONS.

Boston, MA: Oliver Ditson, 115 Washington St.
N. York: Berry & Gordon
Cincinnati: D. A. Truax
Boston: C. C. Clapp & Co.
Philadelphia: J. E. Gould
Boston: T. T. Barker
Plate No. 7128
[Source: 127/093@Levy]

1. O tell me not of brighter lands,
  Or sunny, sunny climes away,
Where morning winds breathe low as lutes,
  And zephyrs ever play.
Where streamlets murmur pleasantly,
  And all is gay and fair.
O tell me not of brighter lands,
  I care not to be there.

[REFRAIN sung after each VERSE]
I care not to be there.

2. They sing of homes in verdant Isles,
  Beside a tranquil sea,
Where sylphlike forms at even dance,
  Beneath the citron tree.
Where darkeyed beauties whisper love,
  And sooth the brow of care,
And life is like a marriage feats,—
  I care not to be there.

3. Oh tell me not of brighter lands,
  Where summer sunsets glow,
Where perfume floats on ev’ry breeze,
  And fountains tinkle low.
The Bulbul warbles to his mate,
  Beside the starlit streams,
And love smiles on us all the day,
  And whispers in our dreams.

4. Oh tell me not of brighter lands
  Though hourris from the skies
Should charm us there to soft repose,
  Beneath their lovelit eyes;
Or woo us in their Eden bowers
  To linger by their side,
Breathing their fairy songs
  Upon an ocean’s tide.

5. Oh tell me not of brighter lands,
  I have one brighter still,
And dear to me is ev’ry wood,
  And ev’ry vale and hill.
But dearer far the smiling home
  Where still I love to be,
Where kindred, friends, and parents dear
  Are all the world to me.