The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol II: Songs in the

  I.
  Ah, fading joy! how quickly art thou past!
          Yet we thy ruin haste.
  As if the cares of human life were few,
          We seek out new:
  And follow Fate, which would too fast pursue.
  See how on every bough the birds express,
    In their sweet notes, their happiness.
    They all enjoy, and nothing spare;
    But on their mother Nature lay their care:
  Why then should man, the lord of all below,
          Such troubles choose to know,
  As none of all his subjects undergo?
  Hark, hark, the waters fall, fall, fall,
  And with a murmuring sound
  Dash, dash upon the ground,
          To gentle slumbers call.
  II.
  I look'd, and saw within the book of fate,
          When many days did lour,
          When lo! one happy hour
  Leap'd up, and smiled to save the sinking state;
    A day shall come when in thy power
          Thy cruel foes shall be;
          Then shall thy land be free:
          And then in peace shall reign;
  But take, O take that opportunity,

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