T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Kiss II
By Joannes Secundus (1511–1536)(From Kisses; translated by Thomas Stanley) |
AS in a thousand wanton curls the vine | |
| Doth the loved elm embrace; | |
| As clasping ivy round the oak doth twine, | |
| To kiss his leafy face; | |
| So thou about my neck thy arms shalt fling, | 5 |
| Joining to mine thy breast; | |
| So shall my arms about thy fair neck cling, | |
| My lips on thine imprest. | |
| Ceres nor Bacchus, care of life, nor sleep, | |
| Shall force me to retire; | 10 |
| But we at once will on each other’s lip | |
| Our mutual souls expire. | |
| Then hand in hand down to th’ Elysian plains | |
| (Crossing the Stygian lake) | |
| We’ll through those fields, where spring eternal reigns, | 15 |
| Our pleasing journey take. | |
| There their fair mistresses the heroes lead, | |
| And their old loves repeat, | |
| Singing or dancing in a flowery mead, | |
| With myrtles round beset. | 20 |
| Roses and violets smile beneath a screen | |
| Of ever-verdant lays; | |
| And gentle zephyr amorously between | |
| Their leaves untroubled plays. | |
| There constantly the pregnant earth unplough’d | 25 |
| Her fruitful store supplies; | |
| When we come thither, all the happy crowd | |
| From their green thrones will rise. | |
| There thou in place above Jove’s numerous train | |
| Of mistresses shall sit; | 30 |
| Hers Helen, Homer will not his disdain, | |
| For thee and me to quit. | |