Poem by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman

Second Series. 15. Gertrude and Gulielma, sister-twins

Gertrude and Gulielma, sister-twins,
Dwelt in the valley at the farmhouse old;
Nor grief had touched their locks of dark and gold
Nor dimmed the fragrant whiteness of their skins:
Both beautiful, and one in height and mould;
Yet one had loveliness which the spirit wins
To other worlds: eyes, forehead, smile and all,
More softly serious than the twilight's fall.
The other -- can I e'er forget the day
When, stealing from a laughing group away,
To muse with absent eye and motion slow,
Her beauty fell upon me like a blow? --
Gertrude! with red flowerlip, and silk black hair!
Yet Gulielma was by far more fair.

1. First Series. 27. So to the mind long brooding but on it
2. Second Series. 7. His heart was in his garden; but his brain
3. First Series. 26. For Nature daily through her grand design
4. Second Series. 1. That boy, the farmer said, with hazel wand
5. Second Series. 16. Under the mountain, as when first I knew

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