The Fortune-Teller

YOU, Madam, may with safety go.
Decrees of destiny to know.
For at your birth kind planets reign'd,
And certain happiness ordain'd :
Such charms as your's are only given
To chosen favourites of heaven.

But such is my uncertain state,
'Tis dangerous to try my fate :
For I would only know from art.
The future motions of your heart.
And what predestinated doom
Attends my love for years to come;
No secrets else, that mortals learn.
My care deserve, or life concern ;
But this will so important be,
I dread to search the dark decree :
For while the smallest hope remains,
Faint joys are mingled with my pains.
Vain distant views my fancy please,
And give some intermitting ease :
But should the stars too plainly show
That you have doom'd my endless woe,
No human force, nor art, could bear
The torment of my wild despair.

This secret then I dare not know,
And other truths are useless now.
What matters, if unblest in love,
How long or short my life will prove ?
To gratify what low desire,
Should I with needless haste enquire,
How great, how wealthy, I shall be ?
O ! what is wealth or pow'r to me ?
If I am happy, or undone,
It must proceed from You alone.