AH! why will Mem'ry with officious care <br />The long lost visions of my days renew? <br />Why paint the vernal landscape green and fair, <br />When life's gay dawn was opening to my view? <br />Ah! wherefore bring those moments of delight, <br />When with my Anna, on the southern shore, <br />I thought the future, as the present bright? <br />Ye dear delusions!--ye return no more! <br />Alas! how diff'rent does the truth appear, <br />From the warm picture youth's rash hand portrays! <br />How fades the scene, as we approach it near, <br />And pain and sorrow strike--how many ways! <br />Yet of that tender heart, ah! still retain <br />A share for me--and I will not complain!<br /><br />Charlotte Smith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-x-to-mrs-g/
