A trouble and a shadow, tinging thought
With hues too deep for joy! I never look’d
On my fair children, in their buoyant mirth
Or sunny sleep, when all the gentle air
Seem’d glowing with their quiet blessedness,
But o’er my soul there came a shuddering sense
Of earth, and its pale changes; e’en like that
Which vaguely mingles with our glorious dreams—
A restless and disturbing consciousness
That the bright things must fade! How have I shrunk