Classic Poem

I THINK of thee—I feel the glow
Of that warm thought—yet well I know
No verse a brother's love may show,
My sister!

But ill should I deserve the name
Or warmth divine, that poets claim,
If I for thee no lay could frame,
My sister!

I think of thee—of those bright hours
Rich in life's first and fairest flowers,
When childhood's gay delights were ours,
My sister!

Those sunny paths were all our own,
And thou and I were there alone,
Each to the other only known,
My sister!

In every joy and every care,
We two, and we alone, were there,
The brightness and the gloom to share,
My sister!

As changing seasons o'er us flew,
No changes in our love we knew,
And there our hearts together grew,
My sister!

And then there came that dreaded day
When I with thee no more must stay,
But to the far school haste away,
My sister!

Sad was the parting—sad the days,
And dull the school, and dull the plays,
Ere I again on thee may gaze,
My sister!

But longest days may yet be past,
And cares of school away be cast,
And home and thee be seen at last,
My sister!

The mountain top, the meadow plain,
The winding creek, the shaded lane,
Shall shine in both our eyes again,
My sister!

Who then shall first my greeting seek?
Whose warm tear fall upon my cheek?
And tell the joy she cannot speak?
My sister!

My sister!—those bright days are gone,
And we through life have journeyed on,
With hearts, which still, as then, are one,
My sister!

A parting hour again must come,
Again to meet, beyond the tomb—
O! let us then make heaven our home,