THE BROTHER AND SISTER.

A MEMORY.

I.

A VEINY Streamlet onward gliding
Through the bosom of a lawn,
In its fringing sedges hiding;
Or outlooking like an eye

That its azure tinct hath drawn
From the overhanging sky;

And the willows seemed to love it,
Bending o'er its dimpled cheek
Tresses wild that waved above it;
And the light airs faint and weak,
Lingered there like one who stays
For the boon that love delays.

II.

On its bank sat two in youth,
As in face and mien allied;
With a glance cast on them you
The brother and the sister knew ;
From her open brow the truth

As from its own mirror beamed;
And from her retiring eye
Looked the self-respect and pride
Whose root is humility.

Her reflected beauty seemed
Lighted on his forehead high,
Where thought, as if passing by,
Like a shade its course delayed,
And a place of dwelling made.

III.

On his hand she placed her own,
While she said, half smiling, sighing,
"Brother! many an hour has flown
While we here have sate alone,
Musing, questioning, replying:
We must leave these haunts awhile;
And that they be unforgot

Let us pledge a vow, my brother!
By this flower, 'forget-me-not,'
That, when twenty years have passed,
On this day and at this hour,
We will keep our tryst at last,
We will meet again and smile,
Even as now on this loved spot:
Let the one attend the other:

You will come the first," and then

On her face a shadow stole,

And her voice a pensive tone
Took, as it were not her own:
Like an echo heard within

The depths of the slumbering soul.

IV.

"Yes, you will return again;
Twined it may be on your brow
Laurel-leaves; but think not then,
My brother! you will look as now,
With the calm and sweet content
Won from healthful rest that never
Waited on sleepless endeavour!
Yours will be the wreath but rent
Or by thunder, or the blight
Seared of spleen and hate, that strike
Levelling false and true alike;
And not yours the mind and frame
To pass unscathed through the fight
Of those who world-memories claim;
I-" and here a ray broke over
Her bright face-"shall come to you,
Or alone, or with a lover,

Or a husband, to renew

Hours like these, but, if a wife,
Still your sister, and the same,
The staid Mentor of your life!"