PRESENTIMENT

    "Sister, you've sat there all the day, Come to the hearth² awhile； The wind so wildly sweeps away, The clouds so darkly pile. That open book has lain, unread, For hours upon your knee； You've never smiled nor turned your head； What can you, sister, see？"

    "Come hither, Jane, look down the field； How dense³ a mist creeps on！ The path, the hedge, are both concealed⁴, Ev'n the white gate is gone No landscape through the fog I trace, No hill with pastures green； All featureless is Nature's face. All masked in clouds her mien⁵.

    "Scarce is the rustle⁶ of a leaf Heard in our garden now； The year grows old, its days wax brief, The tresses leave its brow. The rain drives fast before the wind, The sky is blank and grey； O Jane, what sadness fills the mind On such a dreary⁷ day！"

    "You think too much, my sister dear； You sit too long alone； What though November days be drear？ Full soon will they be gone. I've swept the hearth, and placed your chair,. Come, Emma, sit by me； Our own fireside is never drear, Though late and wintry wane⁹ the year, Though rough the night may be."

    "The peaceful glow of our fireside Imparts no peace to me： My thoughts would rather wander wide Than rest, dear Jane, with thee. I'm on a distant journey bound, And if, about my heart, Too closely kindred ties were bound, 'Twould break when forced to part.

    "'Soon will November days be o'er：' Well have you spoken, Jane： My own forebodings tell me more—— For me, I know by presage¹⁰ sure, They'll ne'er return again. Ere long, nor sun nor storm to me Will bring or joy or gloom； They reach not that Eternity¹¹ Which soon will be my home."

    Eight months are gone, the summer sun Sets in a glorious sky； A quiet field, all green and lone⁸, Receives its rosy¹² dye. Jane sits upon a shaded stile, Alone she sits there now； Her head rests on her hand the while, And thought o'ercasts her brow.

    She's thinking of one winter's day, A few short months ago, Then Emma's bier was borne away O'er wastes of frozen snow. She's thinking how that drifted snow Dissolved in spring's first gleam, And how her sister's memory now Fades, even as fades a dream.

    The snow will whiten earth again, But Emma comes no more； She left, 'mid¹³ winter's sleet¹⁴ and rain, This world for Heaven's far shore. On Beulah's hills she wanders now, On Eden's tranquil¹⁵ plain； To her shall Jane hereafter go, She ne'er shall come to Jane！