1Seest thou this

Horizontal Bird1

, whose eyes

2Are

fixed2

, immovable, upon the skies,

3Though

Night3

obscures the radiant

Delia’s rays4

,

4Though clouds do muffle his bright face

a-days5

?

5Whether she goes, or feeds, or breeds, or flies,

6Yet still to Heaven she rolls her longing eyes.

7So doth the

Sunfish6

, whose fair eyes are fixed

8On Heaven alone; her love sure is

unmixed7

,

9Although the sea

works8

high, and billows swell

10Almost to Heaven, then down as low as Hell.

11Though

Hurricanians9

make the

Welkin roar10

,

12And Mariners their woeful

wracks11

deplore,

13Yet she is still the same she was before.

14

Even so12

those souls whose hopes and joys above

15Are only plac’d,

reverberates13

that love

16To Heaven from whence they had

irradiation14

,

17Performing so the

end of their creation15

.

18So imitate this

soul16

, that

Bird17

, and

Fish18

,

19And though

things19

answer not thy hopes or wish,

20Yet look towards Heaven, on God alone depend:

21He will thy suff’rings

mitigate or end20

.

22And trust not

Fortune21

, nor her amorous smiles;

23

For when she courts us most, she most beguiles22

.

24Nor fear her frowns, for there is one on high

25At whose bright

footstool23

Fate24

and Fortune lie:

26To

him25

alone, to him for comfort

fly26

.