English Poetry. John Dryden. Life a Cheat. Джон Драйден.

John Dryden (Джон Драйден)

Life a Cheat

When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat;
Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and while it says, we shall be blessed
With some new joys, cuts off what we possessed.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And, from the dregs of life, think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.
I'm tired with waiting for this chemic gold,
Which fools us young, and beggars us when old. 

John Dryden’s other poems:

1. A Song (High State and Honours to others impart)
2. On the Monument of the Marquis of Winchester
3. Epitaph on Sir Palmes Fairborne’s Tomb in Westminster Abbey
4. Epitaph on a Nephew in Catworth Church, Huntingdonshire
5. To John Hoddesdon, on his Divine Epigrams

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