1Seest thou

this horizontal bird1

, whose eyes

2Are fixed, immovable, upon the skies,

3Though night obscures the radiant

Delia’s2

rays,

4Though clouds do muffle his bright face

adays3

?

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

6Yet still to Heav’n she rolls her longing eyes.

7So doth the

sunfish4

, whose fair eyes are fixed

8On Heav’n alone; her love sure is

unmixed5

,

9Although the sea works high, and billows swell

10Almost to Heav’n, then down as low as Hell.

11Though

hurricanians6

make the

welkin7

roar,

12And mariners their woeful

wracks8

deplore9

,

13Yet she is still the same she was before.

14E’en so those souls whose hopes and joys above

15Are only placed,

reverberates10

that love

16To Heav’n from whence they had

irradiation11

,

17Performing so the

end12

of their creation.

18So imitate this soul, that bird, and fish,

19And though things answer not thy hopes or wish,

20Yet look towards Heav’n, on God alone depend:

21He will thy suff’rings mitigate or end.

22And trust not Fortune, nor her amorous smiles;

23For when she courts us most, she most

beguiles13

.

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

25At whose bright footstool Fate and Fortune lie:

26To Him alone, to Him for comfort

fly14

.