To the Siamese Twins

Mysterious tie by the Hand above,
 Which nothing below must part!
Thou visible image of faithful love,
 Firm union of heart and heart;
The mind to her utmost bound may run,
 And summon her light in vain
To scan the twain that must still be one ;
 The one that will still be twain!

The beat of this bosom forbears to reach
 Where the other distinetly goes;
Yet, the stream that empurples the veins of each
 Through the breast of his brother flows!
One grief must be felt by this two-fold mark,
 As the points of a double dart;
And the joy lit up by a single spark
 Is sunshine in either heart.

O wonder to baffle poor human skill
 In clay of the human mould!
But a greater mystery all must still,
 In the union of souls, behold.
Ye are living harps, by your silken strings
 In a heavenly concord bound;
And who o'er one but a finger flings
 Awakens you both to sound.

But, what do you do when your slumbers come,
 When ye've sweetly sunken to rest?
Do your spirits, side by side, fly home,
 Still linked, to your mother's breast?
Did ye ever dream that your bond was broke;
 That ye were asunder thrown?
And how did ye feel at the severing stroke,
 When each was forever alone?

No—ye would not think of yourselves apart,
 Even in fancy's wildest mood,
For each would seem but a broken heart,
 And the world but a solitude!
Dear youths, may your lives be a flowery way,
 And watched by your Maker's eye!
May both, at the close, one call obey
 To shine as twin stars on high!

Mysterious tie by the Hand above,
 Which nothing below must part!
Thou visible image of faithful love,
 Firm union of heart and heart;
The mind to her utmost bound may run,
 And summon her light in vain
To scan the twain that must still be one ;
 The one that will still be twain!

The beat of this bosom forbears to reach
 Where the other distinetly goes;
Yet, the stream that empurples the veins of each
 Through the breast of his brother flows!
One grief must be felt by this two-fold mark,
 As the points of a double dart;
And the joy lit up by a single spark
 Is sunshine in either heart.

O wonder to baffle poor human skill
 In clay of the human mould!
But a greater mystery all must still,
 In the union of souls, behold.
Ye are living harps, by your silken strings
 In a heavenly concord bound;
And who o'er one but a finger flings
 Awakens you both to sound.

But, what do you do when your slumbers come,
 When ye've sweetly sunken to rest?
Do your spirits, side by side, fly home,
 Still linked, to your mother's breast?
Did ye ever dream that your bond was broke;
 That ye were asunder thrown?
And how did ye feel at the severing stroke,
 When each was forever alone?

No—ye would not think of yourselves apart,
 Even in fancy's wildest mood,
For each would seem but a broken heart,
 And the world but a solitude!
Dear youths, may your lives be a flowery way,
 And watched by your Maker's eye!
May both, at the close, one call obey
 To shine as twin stars on high!
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