"And yet not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety, But rather famish them amid their plenty, Making them red and pale with fresh variety, Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty.

A summer's day will seem an hour but short,
Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.
With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, 25
The precedent of pith and livelihood,
And, trembling in her passion, calls it balm,
Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good.
Being so enrag'd, desire doth lend her force e
Courageously to pluck him from his horse. so

Over one arm the lusty courser's rein,
Under her other was the tender boy,
Who blush'd and pouted in a dull disdain,
With leaden appetite, unapt to toy;

She red and hot as coals of glowing fire,
He red for shame, but frosty in desire.

35

And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,

"If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open."

He burns with bashful shame; she with her

tears

Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks;

Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs
To fan and blow them dry again she seeks.
He saith she is immodest, blames her miss:
What follows more she murders with a kiss.

50

55

Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,
Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and
bone,

Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,
Till either gorge be stuff'd or prey be gone;
Even so she kiss'd his brow, his cheek, his

chin,

And where she ends she doth anew begin. 60

Forc'd to content, but never to obey,
Panting he lies and breatheth in her face.
She feedeth on the steam as on a prey,
And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace;
Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of
flowers,

65

So they were dew'd with such distilling showers.

Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, 'Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale. Being red, she loves him best; and being white,

Her best is better'd with a more delight.

80

Look how he can, she cannot choose but love;
And by her fair immortal hand she swears
From his soft bosom never to remove
Till he take truce with her contending tears,
Which long have rain'd, making her cheeks

all wet;

And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt.

Upon this promise did he raise his chin, Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave,

85

Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in;
So offers he to give what she did crave;

But when her lips were ready for his pay,
He winks, and turns his lips another way. 90

Never did passenger in summer's heat
More thirst for drink than she for this good

turn.

Her help she sees, but help she cannot get ;
She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn.

"O, pity," gan she cry, "flint-hearted boy! 95 'Tis but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy?

"I have been wooed, as I entreat thee now, Even by the stern and direful god of war, Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow, Who conquers where he comes in every jar; 100 Yet hath he been my captive and my slave, And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have.

"Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear;

Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse.

Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth beauty;

Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

"Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed,

Unless the earth with thy increase be fed? 1
By law of nature thou art bound to breed,
That thine may live when thou thyself art
dead;

And so, in spite of death, thon dost survive,
In that thy likeness still is left alive."

By this the love-sick queen began to sweat, 175 For where they lay the shadow had forsook them,

And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat,
With burning eye did hotly overlook them;
Wishing Adonis had his team to guide,
So he were like him and by Venus' side.

193

His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane
Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end;
His nostrils drink the air, and forth again,
As from a furnace, vapours doth he send;

His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, 275
Shows his hot courage and his high desire.

Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps,
With gentle majesty and modest pride;
Anon he rears upright, curvets, and leaps,
As who should say, "Lo, thus my strength is
tried,

And this I do to captivate the eye

Of the fair breeder that is standing by."

280

His love, perceiving how he is enrag'd,
Grew kinder, and his fury was assuag'd.

His testy master goeth about to take him ;
When, lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear, 20
Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him,
With her the horse, and left Adonis there.

As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them,

Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them.