William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Song: Farewell, ungrateful traitor!John Dryden (16311700)
F
Farewell, my perjured swain
Let never injured creature
Believe a man again.
The pleasure of possessing
Surpasses all expressing,
But ’tis too short a blessing,
And love too long a pain.
In pity of your pain;
But when we love, you leave us
To rail at you in vain.
Before we have descried it,
There is no bliss beside it,
But she, that once has tried it,
Will never love again.
Was only to obtain;
But when the charm is ended,
The charmer you disdain.
Your love by ours we measure,
Till we have lost our treasure;
But dying is a pleasure
When living is a pain.