Love and Fame
Written in Early Youth
I.
It was the May when I was born,
Soft moonlight through the casement stream’d,
And still, as it were yestermorn,
I dream the dream I dream’d.
I saw two forms from fairy land,
Along the moonbeam gently glide,
Until they halted, hand in hand,
My infant couch beside.
II.
With smiles, the cradle bending o’er,
I heard their whisper’d voices breathe—
The one a crown of diamond wore,
The one a myrtle wreath;
“Twin brothers from the better clime,
A poet’s spell hath lured to thee;
Say which shall, in the coming time,
Thy chosen fairy be?”
III.
I stretch’d my hand, as if my grasp
Could snatch the toy from either brow;
And found a leaf within my clasp,
One leaf—as fragrant now!
If both in life may not be won,
Be mine, at least, the gentler brother—
For he whose life deserves the one,
In death may gain the other.