WAS there ever a game we did not share,
Brother of mine?
Or a day when I did not play you fair,
Brother of mine?
"As good as a boy," you used to say,
And I was as eager for the fray,
And as loath to cheat or to run away,
Brother of mine!
You are playing the game that is straight and true,
Brother of mine,
And I'd give my soul to stand next to you,
Brother of mine.
The spirit, indeed is still the same;
I would not shrink from the battle's flame,
Yet here I stay--at the woman's game,
Brother of mine!
If the last price must needs he paid,
Brother of mine,
You will go forward, unafraid,
Brother of mine.
Death can so small a part destroy,
You will have known the fuller joy--
Ah! would that I had been born a boy,
Brother of mine!