Sonnet 25 (Miscellaneous Sonnets)

Ah me ! It is the saddest thing on earth
To see a change where much is yet unchanged,
To mark a face, not alter'd, but estranged
From its own wonted self, by its own hearth
So sadly smiling, like the ghost of mirth.
That cannot quite desert its long abode.
The very sigh that lifts the weary load
Of pain, and loosens the constraining girth
Within the breast, a semi-tone of laughter ;
Though joy to woe, as light to shade is turn'd
The trick of joy is not so soon unlearn'd :
The substance flits, the shadow lingers after.
The soul once rich in joy, though poor it be.
Will yet be bounteous in its poverty.