Companions daily, often all day long;

Not placed by fortune within easy reach

Of various intercourse, nor wishing aught

Beyond the allowance of our own fire-side,

The twain within our happy cottage born,

Inmates, and heirs of our united love;

Graced mutually by difference of sex,

And with[258] no wider interval of time

Between their several births than served for one

To establish something of a leader's sway;