Twins

by HENRY S. LEIGH (1837-1883)

In form and feature, face and limb,
I grew so like my brother,
That folks got taking me for him,
And each for one another.
It puzzled all our kith and kin,
It reached a fearful pitch;
For one of us was born a twin,
And not a soul knew which.

One day to make the matter worse,
Before our names were fixed,
As we were being washed by nurse,
We got completely mixed;
And thus, you see, by Fate’s decree,
Or rather nurse’s whim,
My brother John got christened me,
And I got christened him.

This fatal likeness ever dogged
My footsteps when at school,
And I was always getting flogged,
When John turned out a fool.
I put this question, fruitlessly,
To every one I knew:
“What would you do, if you were me,
To prove that you were you?”

Our close resemblance turned the tide
Of my domestic life,
For somehow, my intended bride
Became my brother’s wife.
In fact, year after year the same
Absurd mistakes went on,
And when I died, the neighbours came
And buried brother John.

Henry S. Leigh Contemporaries
Emily Dickinson
John James Ingalls
Algernon Swinburne
John Hay