TO MY ONLY SISTER.

My last—my only one! O, leave me not alone— Bereft of all! May we together go, That those we leave below May o’er us lightly throw One funeral pall! I would not from thee part, Thou of the gentle heart, And dove-like mien! Go not, my only one! As those we loved have gone; Who, passing gently on, No more are seen. Theirs is the peaceful home, And ours the lonely gloom Of parted love; We hear their evening hymn As some remember’d dream; Sweet whisp’rer does it seem Of songs above! In fair immortal bowers Of amaranthine flowers, They sweetly dwell; Pain cannot enter there, Nor dark foreboding fear, Nor dull, corroding care, Nor sad farewell! How many cherish’d ones, Array’d in sparkling crowns, Shall greet us there! There are our treasures laid, Earth’s love, immortal made, Shall never, never fade, But grow more fair. Pass not away from earth, And from thy peaceful hearth, And leave me here! When thy freed spirit flies To seek its native skies, Then, too, may I arise, And enter there!