Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Verse Musings on Nature, Faith, and Freedom (1889). II. Freedom. I. Fate and ManJohn Owen (1836–1896)
M
Scheming ill, they good fulfil;
Such is Fate’s ironic will,
Such her metamorphic skill,
From one substance to distil,
Balm to quicken—bane to kill.
With flowers culled upon life’s road;
These we bear to Fate’s abode,
Nothing witting, but her mode
To distil, from gifts bestowed,
Drugs that solace or corrode.
Yet her limits knoweth she;
Thus, though purblind mortals, we
All her methods cannot see,
Yet we know supreme is He
Who hath made Fate blind and free.