Brothers

How lovely the elder brother's     Life all laced in the other's,     Lve-laced! what once I well     Witnessed; so fortune fell.     When Shrovetide, two years gone,     Our boys' plays brought on     Part was picked for John,     Young Jhn: then fear, then joy     Ran revel in the elder boy.     Their night was come now; all     Our company thronged the hall;     Henry, by the wall,     Beckoned me beside him:     I came where called, and eyed him     By meanwhiles; making m play     Turn most on tender byplay.     For, wrung all on love's rack,     My lad, and lost in Jack,     Smiled, blushed, and bit his lip;     Or drove, with a diver's dip,     Clutched hands down through clasped knees -     Truth's tokens tricks like these,     Old telltales, with what stress     He hung on the imp's success.     Now the other was brss-bld:     H had no work to hold     His heart up at the strain;     Nay, roguish ran the vein.     Two tedious acts were past;     Jack's call and cue at last;     When Henry, heart-forsook,     Dropped eyes and dared not look.     Eh, how ll rng!     Young dog, he did give tongue!     But Harry - in his hands he has flung     His tear-tricked cheeks of flame     For fond love and for shame.     Ah Nature, framed in fault,     There 's comfort then, there 's salt;     Nature, bad, base, and blind,     Dearly thou canst be kind;     There dearly thn, derly,     I'll cry thou canst be kind.