The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
The origin of this quatrain is to be found in O. 31
From the beginning[75] was written what shall be;
Unhaltingly the Pen (writes) and is heedless of good and bad;
On the First Day He appointed everything that must be—
Our grief and our efforts are vain.
Ref.: O. 31, C. 87, L. 195, B. 192, S.P. 31, B. ii. 60, T. 67, P. v. 211.—W. 35, N. 31, V. 191.
And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help—for It
As Impotently moves as you or I.
The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 134, ll. 1 and 2, and O. 41.
This heavenly vault is like a bowl fallen upside down,
Under which all the wise have fallen helpless.