He sleeps in peace! Death's cold eclipse <br />His radiant eyes hath shrouded o'er, <br />And slander's poison, from the lips <br />Of woman, on his heart no more <br />Distils, and burns it to its core. <br /> <br /> <br />He sleeps in peace! The noble spirit <br />That beamed forth from his living brow, <br />Prompt, at the shrine of real merit, <br />With reverence and with truth to bow, <br />Is, by false tongues, not troubled now. <br /> <br /> <br />He sleeps in peace! And, while he sleeps, <br />He dreams not of earth's loves or strifes; <br />The tears a sister for him weeps,- <br />He knows not that they 're not his wife's! <br />His thoughts are all another life's. <br /> <br /> <br />I hope he knows not that the hand <br />Once given to him is now another's; <br />I know, the flame that once it fanned <br />Had all gone out. I know my brother's <br />Last thoughts were of my love and mother's. <br /> <br /> <br />I hope he knows not that his child <br />Hears not nor knows its father's name. <br />Keep its young spirit undefiled <br />And worthy of its father's fame, <br />O Thou, from whom its spirit came! <br /> <br /> <br />Thou Father of the fatherless, <br />The mantle that my brother wore,- <br />The robe of truth and faithfulness,- <br />Keep, for his infant, in thy store; <br />My brother hath left nothing more! <br /> <br /> <br />That mantle!-men had seen him throw <br />It amply round him ere it fell! <br />Peace, brother, 't is as white as snow; <br />No one of all on earth that dwell <br />Can stain what once became thee well. <br /> <br /> <br />In peace thou sleepest;-through the bars <br />Of its dim cell thy spirit fled; <br />And now thy sister and the stars <br />Their tears of dew and pity shed, <br />Heart-broken brother, on thy bed.<br /><br />John Pierpont<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-sister-s-thoughts-over-a-brother-s-grave/
