Classic Poem

With unaccustomed tenderness
The wayward son enfolds his mother;
With strange and sudden gentleness
The sister looks upon her brother.

The babe is tightened in the hold,
With gushes of maternal passion;
The wife and husband show their love
After the maid's and lover's fashion.

And some white face with moveless lids
That can be wet with tears no longer,
Staying perchance life's wonted way
Has made love's current flow the stronger.

Or, it may be, in last night's dream,
Each felt what might be Death's aggression;
And waking, tearful Love ran forth,
To prove still safe his own possession.