Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MY BROTHER, by WILLILAM HOOPER HOWELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY BROTHER, by                    
First Line: Dear brother, hast thou kept the faith with me?
Last Line: Among the knights of arthur's table round.
Subject(s): Brothers; Half-brothers


Dear brother, hast thou kept the faith with me?
Full many years are gathered to the past;
The hope-light of my hope is overcast
With gloomy clouds of doubt that will not flee.
Love, genius, and resolve -- thou hadst these three --
And are they all of no avail at last
To break this silence so profound, so vast,
That holds thee captive in eternity?

Through many a vigil of the drowsy night
Have I sent out my soul in search of thine;
Striving to rend the bond that held me tight
Within this clay-built castle, to divine
Thy presence for one instant of delight.
In vain, in vain. Thou madest not one sign.

Thrice blest is he whom God hath made so sweet
That, with a charm to Midas all unknown,
The hearts he touches, though as cold as stone,
Are turned to radiant orbs of sacred heat;
And such a man thou wert; my wandering feet
Not yet have brought me to thy peer; alone
Thou art enshrined within the central zone
Of deep affection; beautiful; complete;

Tender and brave; with courtesy and grace
Descended from some ancestor remote
Who sought the Holy Land with sword and mace
And led the charge when rang the wild war note
Of Coeur de Leon's trumpets, or was found
Among the knights of Arthur's table round.





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