The Book of Scottish Song/For ever, Fortune

by James Thomson

For ever, Fortune.

[The following words are by James Thomson, author of the Seasons, and they appear in the Orpheus Caledonius so far back as 1725, attached to the tune of Logan Water.]

For ever, Fortune, wilt thou prove
An unrelenting foe to love,
And, when we meet a mutual heart,
Come in between, and bid us part—
Bid us sigh on from day to day,
And wish, and wish—the soul away;
Till youth and genial years are flown,
And all the life of life is gone.

But busy, busy, still art thou,
To bind the loveless joyless vow,
The heart from pleasure to delude,
And join the gentle to the rude.
For once, oh, Fortune, hear my prayer,
And I absolve thy future care;
All other blessings I resign,
Make but the dear Amanda mine.

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