154
CRUCE AND CORONA.
And yet one brother's fate I cannot tell.This only like some legend I have heard:That when my father and my mother closedTheir eyes in that last sleep that comes to all,And when our only sister passed from earthTo join the angels in the upper spheres,My brother, in his sorrow strong and great,Departed from that home, then home no more,And dwelt alone in some far lovely isle;Yet never hope I him to meet on earth.
And now I journey to my childhood's home.I go to kneel by those three sacred graves;And if the roof that sheltered me in youthStill rests upon its ivy-mantled walls,I hope that thence my soul may pass to heav'n.
Ah! if I only knew upon what isleMy only brother reared his lonely home,How gladly would I journey there! If deathHath parted him from earth, I still would goTo kneel in holy sorrow by his tomb.
Ah, daughter! why to thee I this have toldI know not; and self-wonder it doth wake.For rarely to another soul I tellAught that concerns my own. Perchance 'tis well.
