Troilus and Cressida, act 3, scene ii (1679)

 Can life be a blessing,

Or worth the possessing,

Can life be a blessing, if love were away?

Ah, no! tho' our love all night keep us waking,

And tho' he torment us with cares all the day,

Yet he sweetens, he sweetens our pains in the taking;

There's an hour at the last, there's an hour to repay.

II

In every possessing,

The ravishing blessing,

In every possessing the fruit of our pain,

Poor lovers forget long ages of anguish,

Whate'er they have suffer'd and done to obtain;

'T is a pleasure, a pleasure to sigh and to languish,

When we hope, when we hope to be happy again. 

John Dryden 

1679 

______ 

On a mandolin 

 there are shadow strings 

Corresponding mates 

of the same note

In tune in tune

 with one another

All they require 

 is breath of nimble fingers

All they need is space 

 to fill with innate harmonies

Sweet ingredients! Battle not under The damp sheet  

but rise with each yeast’s

Muscle flex, bust the bowl

Be it condo, cave dwelling, or

Californian.  

Stroke resonance

Internal& merge 

as a bird’s summer hum

(1988, Lawrence Ks.

FLB