Poems (Frances Elizabeth Browne)/Sibylline cards

by Frances Elizabeth Browne

SIBYLLINE CARDS.

I.

A limb of the law awaits you, my dear;
Citations and briefs without number appear;
How enviable is indeed your fate,—
An upright lawyer, pillar of the state!

II.

Ah! rail not at woman; in vain you declare
Your utter indifference, and laugh at the fair;
You pretend to despise what you cannot obtain,
And scoffers deserve what they meet with,—disdain,
Persevere in this folly, and know that your fate
Will be bitter repentance,—repentance too late.

III.

To one thing constant never
 The sport of beauty's power,
Thy vows deceitful ever,
 And varying with the hour.
For every vow you 've broken,
 For every heart betrayed,
For each forgotten token,
 Your doom, till now delayed,
Shall be in turn to love in vain,
 And ne'er know happiness again.

IV.

Favored mortal, know for thee
A happy lot the Fates decree;
Grateful learn thy destiny:
Love and friendship's hallowed rays
Brightly gild thy future days.

V.

That marriage is a lottery, every one cries;
How happy, then, is he who draws a prize!
Connubial bliss, the purest earth can know,
From whence our first and best affections flow,—
This bliss shall soon be thine. To name the fair
Is useless,—for of that you 're well aware.