Ben Jonson (1572-1637). The Kiss. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

The Kiss

By Ben Jonson (1572–1637)


O THAT 1 joy so soon should waste!
Or so sweet a bliss
As a kiss
Might not for ever last!
So sugared, so melting, so soft, so delicious,	5
The dew that lies on roses,
When the morn herself discloses,
Is not so precious.
O, rather than it would I smother,
Were I to taste such another;	10
It should be my wishing
That I might die kissing.

Note 1. From Cynthia’s Revels, 1601. [back]