[Page 58]

A VOW TO FORTUNE.

1 IF ere the moment should arrive,
2 Which hope herself despairs to see,
3 Fortune, thy suppliant shall strive
4 To raise a votive pile to thee.
5 BONA FORTUNA shall be plac'd
6 In golden letters round the dome,
7 The weary pilgrim there shall rest,
8 And wait for happier days to come.
9 A curious lamp of bold design,
10 With emblematic sculpture crown'd,
11 Shall burn before thy sacred shrine,
12 And cast its cheering rays around.
13 It shall be form'd of silent tears,
14 Slow dropping in the cave of care,
15 Through the cold gloom of ling'ring years
16 Congeal'd to crystal by despair.
[Page 59]
17 It shall be wrought with tales of woe,
18 Where Fortune turn'd the adverse tide,
19 And taught the stream of chance to flow
20 In channels hope herself denied.
21 There expectation's light shall burn,
22 And watchful faith the flame preserve;
23 If doubts and fears perchance return,
24 Hope shall have patience in reserve.
25 Bright lambent flame! till death shall end
26 This mortal coil, and sorrow cease,
27 Thy beams shall consolation lend,
28 And light us on the way to peace.
29 O goddess Fortune, from thine eyes
30 The mystic fillet straight unbind,
31 See what thy random power denies,
32 And own thyself unjust and blind.

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Title (in Source Edition): A VOW TO FORTUNE.
Themes:
Genres: ode; address

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Hunter, Anne Home (Mrs. John), 1742-1821. Poems, by Mrs. John Hunter. London: Printed for T. Payne, Mews Gate, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 1802, pp. 58-59.  (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [280 e.4058].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Anne Hunter (née Home)