Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE TO FORTUNE, by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK



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ODE TO FORTUNE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair lady with the bandaged eye!
Last Line: T were cruelty to tumble down.
Alternate Author Name(s): Croaker
Subject(s): Fortune; New York City - 19th Century


FAIR lady with the bandaged eye!
I'll pardon all thy scurvy tricks,
So thou wilt cut me, and deny
Alike thy kisses and thy kicks:
I'm quite contented as I am,
Have cash to keep my duns at bay,
Can choose between beefsteaks and ham,
And drink Madeira every day.

My station is the middle rank,
My fortune - just a competence --
Ten thousand in the Franklin Bank,
And twenty in the six per cents;
No amorous chains my heart enthrall,
I neither borrow, lend, nor sell;
Fearless I roam the City Hall,
And bite my thumb at Sheriff Bell.

The horse that twice a week I ride
At Mother Dawson's eats his fill;
My books at Goodrich's abide,
My country-seat is Weehawk hill;
My morning lounge is Eastburn's shop,
At Poppleton's I take my lunch,
Niblo prepares my mutton-chop,
And Jennings makes my whiskey-punch.

When merry, I the hours amuse
By squibbing Bucktails, Guards, and Balls,
And when I'm troubled with the blues
Damn Clinton and abuse canals:
Then, Fortune, since I ask no prize,
At least preserve me from thy frown!
The man who don't attempt to rise
'T were cruelty to tumble down.





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