Grief and confusion seized him in the day,

And the night pass’d in agony away.

“My ruin comes!” was his awakening thought,

And vainly through the day was comfort sought;

“There, take my all!” he said, and in his dream

Heard the door bolted, and his children scream.

And he was right, for not a day arose

That he exclaim’d not, “Will it never close?”

“Would it were come!”—but still he shifted on,

Till health, and hope, and life’s fair views were gone. 170