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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Kiss II

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.