The Poetical Writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck/Ode to Fortune

by Fitz-Greene Halleck and Joseph Rodman Drake

ODE TO FORTUNE.

air 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.⁴⁸

The horse that twice a week I ride,
At Mother Dawson’s⁴⁹ eats his fill;
My books at Goodrich’s⁵⁰ 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 Jennings⁵¹ 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,
’Twere cruelty to tumble down.

H. and D.