William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Damilcars SongJohn Dryden (16311700)
A
Ah, how gay is young Desire!
And what pleasing pains we prove
When we first approach Love’s fire!
Pains of love be sweeter far
Than all other pleasures are.
Do but gently heave the heart:
Ev’n the tears they shed alone
Cure, like trickling balm, their smart;
Lovers, when they lose their breath,
Bleed away in easy death.
Treat them like a parting friend;
Nor the golden gifts refuse
Which in youth sincere they send:
For each year their price is more,
And they less simple than before.
Swells in every youthful vein;
But each tide does less supply,
Till they quite shrink in again:
If a flow in age appear,
’Tis but rain, and runs not clear.