Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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.