Page:Songs of Rebellion (Hall 1915).djvu/37

 TO MY SISTER.

✤ ✤ ✤ You were so fond, so proud, so true, It did not seem Death dared touch you; That he could lay his cold, white hand Upon a form so pure and grand; That he could pass earth's ugly things And pitilessly break your wings.

And then you faced him with the smile That made us love you all the while; The old brave smile, you learned to know, There, in the homeland, long ago; And, dear, you pleaded not to die, But he refused to pass you by.

He swept like lightning from above, An eagle on a helpless dove; And, as his talons clutched you 'round, You fluttered, dove-like, to the ground; More beautiful in your despair Than anything in earth or air.

In breathless, strange, unbroken sleep, He closed your eyes, so clear and deep; He clasped in his your trembling hand, And led you to an unknown land; He wreathed your brow with poppies red, And crowned you queen among the dead.

The great stars gleam, the roses wave In silence o'er your ivied grave: Asleep, amid our loved and best, You in eternal slumber rest; But, as the stars live in the dew, So lives in love the soul of you. —31—