When I Think of Thee, Brother

Is my heart not all thine? Yet the face of another Seems bending o’er mine. I call thee by name, yet a name not thy own Has whispered already its dear undertone.

When I think thine eyes greet me, Their sweet flash of blue Brings another’s to meet me Of somberer hue; And ever before me they seem to remain, Though my heart but repines to behold thee again.

When I list, and would hear thee Once more in our home, And thy voice appears near me, Another’s has come. I dream of thee only, for thee only sigh, Yet thy image forsakes me; another’s is nigh.

When thy fond smiles come o’er me, As in moments now flown, There riseth before me A look not thy own: ’Tis thee I recall to my mind, O my brother! Yet ever with thine comes the gaze of another.