Classic Poem

So you and I have talked together
The long, bright evening through.
No thought of mine has slipped its tether;
Your heart I warrant true.

Friends, let us say then, man and woman;
For we freely praised and blamed
Him whom it else were merely human
To pass and leave unnamed.

My eyes have sought your smile with pleasure,
Your sweet voice charmed my ear;
Yet has my pulse kept even measure,
My brain rests calm and clear.

And now we offer to each other
A hand-grasp, as I go. —
Suppose us sister now and brother,
Should we part even so?

Say that, to feelings purely blended
I yield, and touch your lips;
Would modesty and faith offended
That kindly smile eclipse?

Or would your heart, divining duly
How mine would urge defence,
Allow the impulse, born more truly
Of spirit than of sense?