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Ferdinand Bol. Venus and Adonis, c1658. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
from Dryden's THE SPANISH FRIAR, 1681.
Song.
Farewell, ungrateful traitor!
Farewell, my perjur'd 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.
'Tis easy to deceive us,
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 bless beside it;
But she that once has tried it,
Will never love again.
The passion you pretended,
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.
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Source:
The Works of John Dryden. 2nd ed. Vol VI. Walter Scott, Ed.
Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1821. 464-5.
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John Dryden
