In life there is no pleasure
To love and youth unknown,
For love is life’s one treasure,
And love and life are one.
In youth there is one sorrow
To love and life well known,
For beauty fades to-morrow
When youth from love has flown.
But love is like the shower
That waters gardens dry,
And brings to earth a flower
That blooms, but cannot die.
From Manila: A Collection of Verse (Imp. Paredes, Inc., 1926) by Luis Dato. This poem is in the public domain.