The speaker speaks to chance as if it were a kind, watchful presence that stepped between her and her own worst impulses. Looking back, she feels she might have destroyed herself, body and soul, but chance kept her whole. She lists what it gave her—music, friends, happy love, more than she had imagined possible. Now, in a quiet twilight that makes earth and sky feel like one dark blue flower, she offers a humble blessing for both chance’s wisdom and its unpredictability. The mood is grateful, reflective, and deeply serene. She is amazed to find herself living on a hill above mountains and the sea, watching a thin white moon through a pepper tree. The poem feels like a moment of peaceful astonishment at simply being alive and loved.
Lovely Chance — Summary
O lovely chance, what can I do To give my gratefulness to you? You rise between myself and me With a wise persistency; I would have broken body and soul, But by your grace, still I am whole. Many a thing you did to save me, Many a holy gift you gave me, Music and friends and happy love More than my dearest dreaming of; And now in this wide twilight hour With earth and heaven a dark, blue flower, In a humble mood I bless Your wisdom--and your waywardness. You brought me even here, where I Live on a hill against the sky And look on mountains and the sea And a thin white moon in the pepper tree.