Classic Poem

My sister, could an honest prayer,
Breathed in an Ear which ever hears,
Preserve thy future life from care,
And joyful make the coming years,

That prayer would pierce heaven's star-arched zone
And beg the God of Love to bless,
Till angels standing near the Throne
Would wonder at its earnestness!

Yet well I know that joy and care
Must in each life co-mingled be:—
Would I might all thy sorrows bear,
And leave the joys alone to thee!

But years will come and years will go,
And every year will bring its share
Of joy and sorrow, bliss and woe,
Which all unaided thou must bear;

And those dear eyes, that ever now
Brim o'er with all the joys of youth,
May melt in anguish, and that brow
Forget that it was once so smooth!

But when the world is most unkind,
And Fortune's smiles most fickle prove,
Oh, in that hour be sure to find
A shelter in thy brother's love!

And as each fast-revolving year
Flits o'er our heads on rapid wing,
May each to each but prove more dear,
And each to each the closer cling;—

Until at last, when fades the day,
We, journeying with heavenward eyes,
May see through twilight lone and gray
The looming towers of Paradise!