Johannes Secundus

1511-1536 / The Hague

Kiss XVI

Bright as Venus' golden star!
And as silver Cynthia fair!
Nymph, with ev'ry charm replete!
Give an hundred kisses sweet;
Then as many kisses more
O'er my lips profusely pour,
As th' insatiate bard could want,
Or his bounteous Lesbia grant;
As the vagrant loves, that stray
On thy lip's nectareous way;
As the dimpling graces spread
On thy cheeks' carnation'd bed;
As the deaths thy lovers die;
As the conquests of thine eye;
Or the cares, and fond delights,
Which its changeful beam incites;
As the hopes and fears we prove,
Or th' impassion'd sighs, in love;
As the shafts by Cupid sped,
Shafts! by which my heart has bled:
As the countless stores, that still
All his golden quiver fill.
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