Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor!

John Dryden

Farewell, ungrateful traitor! 
Farewell, my perjur’d swain!
Let never injur’d woman
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 joy beside it,
But she that once has tried it
Will never love again.

The passion you pretended
Was only to obtain,
But once 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.

Next 10 Poems

• John Dryden : Happy The Man
• John Dryden : Heroic Stanzas
• John Dryden : Hidden Flame
• John Dryden : Mac Flecknoe
• John Dryden : Marriage A-la-mode
• John Dryden : Ode
• John Dryden : One Happy Moment
• John Dryden : Religio Laici
• John Dryden : Secular Masque, The
• John Dryden : Song ( Sylvia The Fair, In The Bloom Of Fifteen )

Previous 10 Poems

• John Dryden : Consecrated To The Glorious Memory Of His Most Serene And Renowned Highness, Oliver, Late Lord Protector Of This Commonwealth, Etc.
• John Dryden : Calm Was The Even, And Clear Was The Sky
• John Dryden : An Ode, On The Death Of Mr. Henry Purcell
• John Dryden : Alexander's Feast; Or, The Power Of Musique
• John Dryden : Alexander's Feast; Or, The Power Of Music
• John Dryden : Ah, How Sweet It Is To Love!
• John Dryden : Absalom And Achitophel A Poem
• John Dryden : Absalom And Achitophel
• John Dryden : A Song From The Italian: Limberham, Or, The Kind Keeper
• John Dryden : A Song From The Italian