Kiss III - Joannes Secundus

“One Kiss, enchanting Maid!" (I cry'd;)—
One little Kiss! and then adieu!
Your lips, with luscious crimson dyed,
To mine with trembling rapture flew:

But quick those lips my lips forsake,
With wanton, tantalizing jest;
So starts some rustic from the snake
Beneath his heedless footstep prest:

Is this to grant the wish'd-for Kiss?—
Ah, no, my Love!—‘tis but to fire
The bosom with a transient bliss,
Inflaming unallay'd desire.

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Joannes Secundus (1511–1536) The Netherlands
Translated by John Nott
Source: Kisses: being a poetical translation of the Basia of Joannes Secundus Nicolaius. With the original Latin text. To which is prefixed an essay on his life and writings, by John Nott, Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 1812