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72

Ah! no; there knelt beside her one alone,
Whose young slight form had rivetted her look;
A fair cheek, scarce less pallid than her own,
A soft, clear brow, which bloom had all forsook;
Dark, heavenly eyes,filled with resistless tears,
The sister of her first and happiest years.

She did not weep; but as those eyes she read,
With tenderness and grieving love o'er-fraught,
With throbbing heart and faltering voice she said,
"Sister, recall me sometimes to your thought—
Midst brighter hopes, and gayer scenes, oh yet
Let not your heart this evening hour forget!

"Oh! sometimes, though all else should have forgot
As the south wind shuts the late violet,
Come with full heart to this deserted spot,
And think of days when here we fondly met;
Recall our infant sports,our youthful love,
And turn some fond and sorrowing thoughts above."

"The flowers shall breathe to thee their softest sighs,
And fancy mingle my departing breath:
And all these mournful evening melodies,
Oh! they shall seem to thee my knell of death!—
Sister, farewell!" a cold shade softly fled
O'er the bright brow—and she had vanished!