Wit's Pilgrimage number 52, John Davies of Hereford

Edited by Caryn J. Corrado

John Davies of Hereford is believed to have lived from 1565-1618. He can easily be confused with the well-known poet Sir John Davies who lived at nearly the same time (1569-1626). John Davies of Hereford published several volumes of verse and epigrams. In 1603 he published Microcosmos and then, in 1605, Wit's Pilgrimage Through a World of Amorous Sonnets, etc., in which this poem appeared titled simply as number 52 in the sequence of poems.

      Fortune and Love, each other to disgrace,
      Strive who should make me slave to either's might;
      And, being blind, fight without shifting place:
      So, I am made the bar o'er whom they fight.
      The blows of either often fall on me,               	5
      And much more often sith they both are blind;
      But Fortune strikes me, sure as she could see,
      And Love doth wound me sure with blows more kind. 
      Fortune doth chip me out and takes away
      All outward things, but Love's impetuous blows		10
      Ne'er cease to sink till in my heart they stay;  
      Thus is my spoil the triumph of these foes.
       	But more I yield to Love than Fortune's might, 
	Sith I can live in Love, in Fortune's spite.

1. Fortune...Love] in Roman myth the goddess Fortuna and the god Cupid, both depicted as blindfolded.
4. Bar] barrier, as in the martial tournament competition called "barriers" where two armed men fought across a wooden fence. o'er] over
6. sith] since.
7. sure as] just as surely as if 8. sure] Indeed
9. chip me out] hew or cut out pieces of me.
10. ne'er] never

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