Fortune’s Eye
Fortune favors the discontent
Her wheel spins greedy heads
Who stays off the wheel?
They who spew Fortune’s bread
Is there change in Fortune’s nature?
Or is Change the begrimed?
Begotten of lovers,
Promise of her good time
She promised her daughter Change
Or did you forget her?
Fortune flew away
Hungry for a debtor
Look at your starving daughter, Change
Her lies echo your hall
She shares mother’s voice
Too loud to hear Wisdom’s soft call
Groan prodigal wretch on your knees
Do you see what you’ve done?
False and futureless
Under the scorching sun?
Your happiness evaporated
Long before Fortune left
Why invite her back?
Protect what remains from theft
Don’t quit her by dying empty
As some dead men advise
Or quit her quiet
As she deserts your life
Instead, do the impossible
Give her up while alive
So you may have Truth
In this and the next life
Copyright © 2022 by Matt Antis. Published in Reader’s Guild: Poetry on November 2nd, 2022, by Ink Jot Kingdom.
My King, Jesus, told the rich young ruler to sell all he had for I speculate he loved Fortune more than God.
Boethimus’s Wisdom speaking of Fortune states, “What difference do you think it makes whether it is you that quit her by dying or she that quits you by desertion?”
Here though, Jesus offers a third option confounding the wisdom of this world. Quit Fortune while you are still alive and you will have true wealth in the next life.
