THIS crested pin, I heard you say,
Was like a beam from fortune’s ray,
Portending some event that’s kind,
To soothe my griefs, and calm my mind.
Yet Fortune is a treach’rous jade,
And many an adverse trick has play’d;
For e’en this pin, which you suppos’d
An emblem of success disclos’d,
Has prob’d me to the very quick;
The current flows–my heart turns sick!
Thus have I often been deceiv’d–
Thus friendship’s semblance oft believ’d,
And press’d delusion to my heart,
Which, like this pin, occasion’d smart,
When I expected and suppos’d,
Instead of wounding–‘twould have clos’d
The lacerations of distress,
Or, by partaking, made them less.
But never more, Louisa, say,
A prostrate pin will luck convey;
For though its head to me was bent,
Its point has prov’d an instrument,
And caus’d life’s crimson stream to flow;
Yet if I never more should know
A sharper pang, or keener smart,
I’d cherish this metallic dart;
And ever after fondly greet
Each pin that I might chance to meet;
And though to stooping not inclin’d,
I’d humble my too tow’ring mind;
Place Fortune’s emblem near my heart,
Nor dread its scratch, or fear its smart .
(Mary Hopkins Pilkington)
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Based on Topics: Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Place Poems, Success Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Grief PoemsBased on Keywords: partaking, disclos, portending, suppos, prob, lacerations