I saw a young mother, with eyes full of laughter,
and two little shadows come following after.
Wherever she moved, they were always right there—
holding onto her skirts, hanging onto her chair,
before her, behind her—an adhesive pair.
“Don’t you ever get weary as, day after day,
your two little tagalongs get in your way?”
She smiled as she shook her pretty young head,
and I’ll always remember the words that she said:
“It’s good to have shadows that run when you run,
that laugh when you’re happy and hum when you hum —
for you only have shadows when your life’s filled with sun!”

“Shadows” by Martha Wadsworth, quoted in Family Matters