University of Virginia Library

THE WINDOW

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(Grounded on a Neapolitan ballad,‘Fenesta che lucive e mo non luce.’)

BROTHER AND SISTER

B.
Here come I back, and find her window fast
And faceless. Sister, can she be unwell?

S.
O brother, 'tis a heavy truth to tell,
Your Jessie has been ill. Her days are past.
Forego your hope to take her to your side,
She could not linger here to be your bride.

B.
Oh! Sister dear, whatever are your words!
Dear sister, oh! whatever do you say!

S.
If you believe me not, behold the day,
How downcast are its clouds, how still its birds:
O no, I tell you only what is true,
The house can show no Jessie Dean to you.

B.
O Jessie Dean, and thou art dead, art gone,
Thy eyes now closed, shall look no more on me,
But thou to mine art ever fair to see;
As I have loved thee, I shall love thee on,
And oh! how willingly could I have died,
And gone at once to slumber by thy side.