Fortune

From “Fanny” BUT Fortune, like some others of her sex,   Delights in tantalizing and tormenting. One day we feed upon their smiles,—the next   Is spent in swearing, sorrowing, and repenting.*        *        *        *        * Eve never walked in Paradise more pure   Than on that morn when Satan played the devil With her and all her race. A lovesick wooer   Ne’er asked a kinder maiden, or more civil, Than Cleopatra was to Antony The day she left him on the Ionian sea. The serpent—loveliest in his coilèd ring,   With eye that charms, and beauty that outvies The tints of the rainbow—bears upon his sting   The deadliest venom. Ere the dolphin dies Its hues are brightest. Like an infant’s breath Are tropic winds before the voice of death Is heard upon the waters, summoning   The midnight earthquake from its sleep of years To do its task of woe. The clouds that fling   The lightning brighten ere the bolt appears; The pantings of the warrior’s heart are proud Upon that battle-morn whose night-dews wet his shroud; The sun is loveliest as he sinks to rest;   The leaves of autumn smile when fading fast; The swan’s last song is sweetest.