| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Song: ‘Can life be a blessing’ | | By John Dryden (1631–1700) |
| | | CAN 1 life be a blessing, | |
| Or worth the possessing, | |
| Can life be a blessing, if love were away? | |
| Ah, no! though our love all night keep us waking, | |
| And though he torment us with cares all the day, | 5 |
| Yet he sweetens, he sweetens our pains in the taking; | |
| There’s an hour at the last, there’s an hour to repay. | |
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| In every possessing, | |
| The ravishing blessing, | |
| In every possessing, the fruit of our pain, | 10 |
| Poor lovers forget long ages of anguish, | |
| Whate’er they have suffered and done to obtain; | |
| ’Tis a pleasure, a pleasure to sigh and to languish, | |
| When we hope, when we hope to be happy again. | |
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