AH, how sweet it is to love! <br /> Ah, how gay is young Desire! <br />And what pleasing pains we prove <br /> When we first approach Love's fire! <br />Pains of love be sweeter far <br />Than all other pleasures are. <br /> <br />Sighs which are from lovers blown <br /> Do but gently heave the heart: <br />Ev'n the tears they shed alone <br /> Cure, like trickling balm, their smart: <br />Lovers, when they lose their breath, <br />Bleed away in easy death. <br /> <br />Love and Time with reverence use, <br /> Treat them like a parting friend; <br />Nor the golden gifts refuse <br /> Which in youth sincere they send: <br />For each year their price is more, <br />And they less simple than before. <br /> <br />Love, like spring-tides full and high, <br /> Swells in every youthful vein; <br />But each tide does less supply, <br /> Till they quite shrink in again: <br />If a flow in age appear, <br />'Tis but rain, and runs not clear.<br /><br />John Dryden<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ah-how-sweet-it-is-to-love/
