The world in one space - 3

© 2025 Lance Thomas Davidson. All Rights Reserved.

Title: Stay at Home, My Heart
Based on the poem: “Song” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Public Domain)
Adaptation, Expansion, and Musical Composition by: Lance Thomas Davidson

This work is an original musical and lyrical adaptation of a public-domain poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The adaptation expands the poem into a modern song form, introducing new verses, a 10-bar vocal solo, a bridge, and complete musical structuring suitable for vocal and instrumental performance.
All new lyrical, melodic, rhythmic, and structural elements reformatting of the original poem for musical adaptation are wholly original and the sole property of Lance Thomas Davidson.
The underlying text by Longfellow remains in the public domain.

No portion of the lyrics, melody, arrangement, or performance format—whether in whole or in part—may be reproduced, distributed, performed, or adapted without the express written consent of the copyright holder.

Classification: Derivative Musical Work
Source: Public Domain Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Copyright Owner: Lance Thomas Davidson
Year of Copyright: 2025

Stay at Home, My Heart
Written and Adapted by Lance Thomas Davidson
(Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s public domain poem)
© 2025 Lance Thomas Davidson. All Rights Reserved.

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest,
Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest.

Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander, they know not where,
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander, they know not where,
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander, they know not where,
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O’er all that flutter their wings and fly,
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.

The dawn may call with silver light,
And tempt the soul to take its flight,
But peace resides where love is near,
Where every whisper calms the fear;
To stay at home is best.

The world may promise golden dreams,
But all is not the way it seems;
The heart grows wise when still and true,
For all it seeks lies close to you;
To stay at home is best.

Stay my heart, don’t roam too far,
Peace is where you are,
No storm can tear apart,
The stillness in your heart,
Stay, my love, stay home.

The rivers flow, the seasons turn,
Yet restless hearts still yearn and yearn;
But love will bloom where roots are deep,
And guard the dreams our souls must keep;
To stay at home is best.

[Final Chorus]
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander, they know not where,
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest,
Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest.

Footnote:
Although this song was adapted for musical presentation and draws inspiration from the perspective of the original author, it is not the opinion or belief of Lance Thomas Davidson that one should remain indoors continually.
Listeners are encouraged to go out, enjoy the world, appreciate nature, meet new people, and cultivate meaningful friendships.
This adaptation has been created purely for artistic expression and interpretive purposes, and does not necessarily represent the personal viewpoint of the composer.



Stay at Home, My Heart

The world decays beneath fluorescent lies,
Gods are scrolling, men just plead,
Words weigh less than the dust of their cries,
And the light bleeds out from the screen’s cold greed.

Thrones made of plastic, prophets on sale,
Truth in beta, no dark mode for the soul.
Yet deep beneath the data veil,
A stubborn ember still keeps its role.

Kali laughs — queen of cycles and ends,
She dances on towers, on the code that bends.
Every glitch, every fall, every scream,
Isn’t death — it’s the shape of a dream.

To see clear in the dark is to shun the torch,
To dive unlit into the core of the real,
To know that chaos builds the forge
For what order could never feel.

So I walk, bare, without code or creed,
Through the ruins of this video age,
Eyes open wide, in the perfect black —
Where all collapses… and all is remade.


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