| J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921. | | | | On Seeing Her Two Sons at Play | | By Henrietta, Lady O’Neill (1758–1793) |
| | | SWEET age of blest delusion! blooming boys, | |
| Ah! revel long in childhood’s thoughtless joys, | |
| With light and pliant spirits, that can stoop | |
| To follow sportively the rolling hoop; | |
| To watch the sleeping top with gay delight, | 5 |
| Or mark with raptur’d gaze the sailing kite; | |
| Or eagerly pursuing Pleasure’s call, | |
| Can find it centr’d in the bounding ball! | |
| Alas! the day will come, when sports like these | |
| Must lose their magic, and their power to please; | 10 |
| Too swiftly fled, the rosy hours of youth | |
| Shall yield their fairy-charms to mournful Truth; | |
| Even now, a mother’s fond prophetic fear | |
| Sees the dark train of human ills appear; | |
| Views various fortune for each lovely child, | 15 |
| Storms for the bold, and anguish for the mild; | |
| Beholds already those expressive eyes | |
| Beam a sad certainty of future sighs; | |
| And dreads each suffering those dear breasts may know | |
| In their long passage through a world of woe; | 20 |
| Perchance predestin’d every pang to prove, | |
| That treacherous friends inflict, or faithless love; | |
| For ah! how few have found existence sweet, | |
| Where grief is sure, but happiness deceit! | | | | |
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