Page:Poems Piatt.djvu/55

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THE BROTHER'S HAND.
41
Just then it happened that a pretty flash
Of small Spring-lightning made their window bright:
They saw a fluttering dress, a bright-plaid sash,
A wide straw-hat, and loose hair falling quite
Half-way to eager feet. And so they guessed,
Each in a shy half-dreaming way, the rest:
They thought the girl was lovely? They were right.

Her face in glimpses came to haunt the two,
Her voice was not what common voices are;
And soon the twin-born rivals darkly knew
The old feud was not dead. They saw the scar
Out of its dreary quiet rise again:
The brother's hand was terrible and plain
Against the brother, as in years afar.

She loved them both. Which most? I think that she—
At least not yet—nor any other knew.
Sometimes she walked with Frederick by the sea,
Sometimes she sung a tremulous song to Hugh,
And in a while, no doubt, began to know
That he was handsome, or she thought him so,
And that his eyes, perhaps, were frankly blue.