Augury

I. a Horse-shoe nailed, for luck, upon a mast; That mast, wave-bleached, upon the shore was cast! I saw, and thence no fetich I revered, But safe, through tempest, to my haven steered. II. The place with rose and myrtle was o’ergrown, Yet Fear and Sorrow held it for their own. A garden then I sowed without one fear,— Sowed fennel, yet lived griefless all the year. III. Brave lines, long life, did my friend’s hand display. Not so mine own; yet mine is quick to-day. Once more in his I read Fate’s idle jest, Then fold it down forever on his breast.