To Anne On Her Birthday

Let mirth and joy a season reign         And sorrow flee away     Sadness were perfect sin it is         My Anne's natal day     And now a birthday rhyme for her         This sister of my own     Accept the song then for my sake         Sister and only one     So long we've lived together here         Our hopes and fears the same     Like two of autumn's last grown leaves         Last of our race and name     The past we know its grief and joy         Its pleasure and its pain     But know not what may happen ere         Your birthday comes again     Shall we be cradled in the deep         Beneath the briny wave?     Or shall the white deer lightly bound         Over my forest grave?     Or living yet divided far         With lands and seas between     And sorrow reigning in the hearts         Where childhood's joy has been     The future's sealed we know it not         But wander where we will     On this broad earth we shall remain         Lone loving sisters still