THE BOY AFAR UNTO HIS SISTER.

———

BY LILIAN MAY.

———

There are hearts in Northland valleys

Throbbing, beating wild for me,

And their soul-love yearneth ever

For a far-off one to see;

And the heart-strings of a sister

Harpeth all their melody,

Wild, sweet lays, for her lone brother,

In her joyness and her glee.

Oh, the ties which bind me to her

Keep aglow my ardent heart,

Thrilling it with pure emotion—

May it nevermore depart;

Oh, I love her ever dearly,

Sister kind she’s been to me—

All her words are golden music

To my heart-hopes minstrelsy.

Through the mellow sunlight glim’ring,

Glinting down upon the stream,

Voices sweet of love-tones falleth,

On my gorgeous, bright day-dream,

And I fancy forms of beauty

Linger then anear my side—

’Mid them all I see my sister

Through the misty visions glide.

In her love, and in her beauty,

Softly, slowly doth she glide,

O’er the pathway of my day-dream,

As a moon-beam on the tide;

And she whispers close beside me,

Meekly soft, and kindly low,

Words, that kindle up my heart-hopes,

Which no other one may know.

When the fairies from the Southland

Bring from far the meek-eyed flowers—

Undine trippeth o’er the waters,

In the rosy June-day hours—

As I watch her mellow glances

Lighting up the fitful stream,

I shall tell her all the haloes

Of a youthful poet’s dream;

And I’ll gather on the lea-land,

By the hill-side, in the grove,

Gems she’ll prize far more than jewels,

The bright flowers which I love,

With the dew-drops heavy-laden,

Sparkling in the red dawn light,

As the molten glory beameth

O’er the ebon wand of night.

Oh, my heart throbs wildly ever,

In its loneliness and wo,

And I long me for the summer,

When the Southland breezes blow;

Gladly, quickly, then I’ll hasten,

In the bright mid-summer day,

To my love-light Northland sister,

In my childhood’s home away.