T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Kiss II
By Joannes Secundus (15111536)(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. | |