Literature Network » John Dryden » The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol II » Song of Jealousy in "Love Triumphant"

Song of Jealousy in "Love Triumphant"

  What state of life can be so blest
  As love, that warms a lover's breast?
  Two souls in one, the same desire
  To grant the bliss, and to require!
  But if in heaven a hell we find,
  'Tis all from thee,
  O Jealousy!
  'Tis all from thee,
  O Jealousy!
  Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy,
  Thou tyrant of the mind!
  All other ills, though sharp they prove,
  Serve to refine, and perfect love:
  In absence, or unkind disdain,
  Sweet hope relieves the lover's pain.
  But, ah! no cure but death we find,
  To set us free
  From Jealousy:
  O Jealousy!
  Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy,
  Thou tyrant of the mind!
  False in thy glass all objects are,
  Some set too near, and some too far;
  Thou art the fire of endless night,
  The fire that burns, and gives no light.
  All torments of the damn'd we find
  In only thee,
  O Jealousy!
  Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy,
  Thou tyrant of the mind!

Literature Network » John Dryden » The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol II » Song of Jealousy in "Love Triumphant"