I sat down, feeling desolated, bowed my head and crossed my knees-- Is fortune really predicated upon such tiny turns as these? Then Fate's a thing without a head. A puzzle never understood, And man proceeds where he is led, Unguaranteed of bad or good. Fate! Fate can be a trap in our path, The bitter cup of your tears, Your wine of wrath! Fate can be shade of the desert blaze, Sudden food in a famine found, The sound of praise! Incomprehensible and strange, Fate can play a trick with the twine To weave the evil and good In one design! And so, my Destiny, I look at you and cannot see Is it good, is it ill? Am I blessed, am I cursed? Is it honey on my tongue or brine? What fate, what fate is mine?