T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Love for Enjoying
By James Shirley (15961666)(From Poems, etc., 1646) FAIR lady, what’s your face to me? | |
I was not only made to see; | |
Every silent stander-by | |
May thus enjoy so much as I. | |
That blooming nature on your cheek, | 5 |
Is still inviting me to seek | |
For unknown wealth; within the ground | |
Are all the royal metals found. | |
Leave me to search; I have a thread | |
Through all the labyrinth shall lead, | 10 |
And through every winding vein | |
Conduct me to the golden mine; | |
Which once enjoy’d, will give me power | |
To make new Indies every hour. | |
Look on those jewels that abound | 15 |
Upon your dress; that diamond | |
No flame, no lustre could impart, | |
Should not the lapidary’s art | |
Contribute here and there a star; | |
And just such things ye women are, | 20 |
Who do not in rude quarries shine, | |
But meeting us, you’re made divine. | |
Come let us mix ourselves, and prove | |
That action is the soul of love. | |
Why do we coward-gazing stand, | 25 |
Like armies in the Netherland: | |
Contracting fear at either’s sight, | |
Till we both grow too weak to fight? | |
Let’s charge for shame, and choose you whether | |
One shall fall, or both together. | 30 |
This is love’s war, whoever dies, | |
If the survivor be but wise, | |
He may reduce the spirit fled, | |
For t’other kiss will cure the dead. | |