For thee, my own sweet sister, in thy heart

I know myself secure, as thou in mine;

We were and are—I am, even as thou art—[am]

Beings who ne'er each other can resign;

It is the same, together or apart,

From Life's commencement to its slow decline

We are entwined—let Death come slow or fast,[an]

The tie which bound the first endures the last!

[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 38-41.]