University of Virginia Library

The Fatality.

Come all ye grand Predestinarians now,
Your Doctrine to the Height I will allow:
I who with utmost Force resist my Fate,
But am to Ills alone predestinate;
In vain I strive th' immutable Decree,
Has pass'd on my unlucky Destiny.
With Sighs and Tears I did at first begin,
To conquer Fate as others would their Sin;
Each Path I trod I went with Caution on,
But every Step doth lead to be undone:
And when a threatening Storm was in my View,
I from it (wisely as I thought) withdrew;
But whilst the approaching Ills with Fear I shun,
Into some other certain Harms I run;
So when some mighty Grief did press my Soul,
I would th' uneasy Tyranny controul;
(Like a distracted Man that will not bear,
Those Fetters which Discretion makes him wear;
But frets and raves, and breaks the friendly Chain,
Which did from greater Injuries restrain;
He'll not be bar'd a dangerous Liberty,
Tho' he to Outrages and Mischief fly.)
Thus I from one Misfortune force my Way,
By Means that does to greater still betray;
One Sorrow seldom attends long on me,
I have a torturing Variety,
I change and change, yet still 'tis Misery.
A Hydra Fate my Ruin does pursue,
Cut off one ill, strait, there springs up a new,
And they'll arise ad infinitum too.
Ther's none the mystick Scrolls of Fate can read,
Nor shun the Ills by mighty Powers decreed,
Hood-wink'd by them, just as they guide we tread.
In vain we say we this or that will do,
It cannot be unless they'll have it so;
The only Way to ease our Discontents,
Is to conclude they must be such Events;
Such as the mighty hidden source of Things,
Bubbles from it's inevitable Springs.