"Farwell ungratefull Traytor," from The Spanish Fryar. Songs from the Plays. John Dryden. 1913. The Poems of John Dryden

John Dryden (1631–1700). The Poems of John Dryden. 1913.

Songs from the Plays

“Farwell ungratefull Traytor,” from The Spanish Fryar


I FARWELL ungratefull Traytor,
Farwell my perjur’d Swain,
Let never injur’d Creature
Believe a Man again.
The Pleasure of Possessing	5
Surpasses all Expressing,
But ’tis too short a Blessing,
And Love too long a Pain.

II ’Tis easie to deceive us
In Pity of your Pain,	10
But when we love you leave us
To rail at you in vain.
Before we have descry’d it,
There is no Bliss beside it,
But she that once has try’d it	15
Will never love again.

III The Passion you pretended
Was onely to obtain
But when the Charm is ended
The Charmer you disdain.	20
Your Love by ours we measure
Till we have lost our Treasure,
But dying is a Pleasure,
When Living is a Pain.