Poems (White)/Twins

by Jeannie Copes White

TWINS

They were twin boys, I would have you know;
They could not help resembling so.
Their happy laugh and bright, flashing eye,
Their joyous love for all things near by.
They would flash out to meet me each eve,
Each claimed a cheek, each to receive
His toy or cake; then taking my hand,
Sits on my knee, and then to the land
Of Fairy Folks went; circled my arm,
I holding them fast,—fearing some harm.
Then on my shoulder each little head
Is lost in the maze that dream fairies said.

One little fellow told me good-night:
"Dear father, are all angels in white?
Do all of them have long hair? And why
Are there no men to live in the sky?
Would God my Father be good to me,
Just as you are whenever I see?
Will there be boys there, happy like girls?
My head is hot, please push back my curls."

That night an angel took off my boy.
Did she have long hair? Did she give joy?
Great God my Father, grant me this prayer:
Be to my little son what I would dare.

One knee is empty, one shoulder bare;
My heart grows cold with longing to share
His little thoughts, and his hands to hold;
My arms are aching his form to fold.

Did you, I wonder, love two at once?
Then you can never tell how many months
Can pass o'er one's head, bending low,
Can send a lost child sprinkling the snow,
And tracing finger marks all o'er your face.
I have another, but none for his place.