Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY FATE by ABRAHAM COWLEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: GO BID THE NEEDLE HIS DEAR NORTH FORSAKE
Last Line: TWO GREAT LIGHTS RULE THE WORLD; AND HER TWO, ME.
1.

GO bid the Needle his dear North forsake,
To which with trembling rev'rence it does bend;
Go bid the Stones a journey upward make;
Go bid th' ambitious Flame no more 't ascend:
And when these false to their old Motions prove,
Then shall I cease Thee, Thee alone to Love.

2.

The fast-link'd Chain of everlasting Fate
Does nothing ty more strong, then Mee to You;
My fixt Love hangs not on your Love or Hate:
But will be still the same, whatere you doe.
You cannot kill my Love with your disdain,
Wound it you may, and make it live in pain.

3.

Mee, mine example, let the Stoiks use,
Their sad and cruell doctrine to maintain,
Let all Predestinators me produce,
Who struggle with eternal bonds in vain.
This Fire I'me born to, but 'tis she must tell,
Whether 't be beams of Heaven, or Flames of Hell.

4.

You, who men's fortunes in their faces read,
To find out mine, look not, alas, on Mee;
But mark her Face, and all the Features heed;
For only there is writ my Destiny.
Or if Starres shew it, gaze not on the skies;
But study the Astrol'ogy of her Eyes.

5.

If thou find there kind and propitious Rays,
What Mars or Saturn threaten I'le not fear;
I well believe the Fate of Mortal daies
Is writ in Heaven; but, oh my Heaven is there.
What can men learn from Starres they scarce can see?
Two great Lights rule the World; and her two, Me.



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