Grant, fairest kind, a kiss unto thy friend! A blush replied, and yet a kiss I had. It is not heaven that can such nectar send Whereat my senses all amazed were glad. This done, she fled as one that was affrayed, And I desired to kiss by kissing more; My love she frowned, and I my kissing stayed, Yet wished to kiss her as I did before. Then as the vine the propping elm doth clasp, Loath to depart till both together die, So fold me, sweet, until my latest gasp, That in thy arms to death I kissed may lie. Thus whilst I live for kisses I must call; Still kiss me, sweet, or kiss me not at all. XVII As are the sands, fair Licia, on the shore, Or colored flowers, garlands of the spring, Or as the frosts not seen, not felt before, Or as the fruits that autumn forth doth bring; As twinkling stars, the tinsel of the night, Or as the fish that gallop in the seas; As airs each part that still escapes our sight, So are my sighs, controllers of my ease. Yet these are such as needs must have an end, For things finite none else hath nature done; Only the sighs, which from my heart I send, Will never cease, but where they first begun. Accept them, sweet, as incense due to thee; For you immortal made them so to be. XVIII I swear, fair Licia, still for to be thine, By heart, by eyes, by what I held most dear; Thou checked mine oath, and said: these were not mine, And that I had no right by them to swear. Then by my sighs, my passions, and my tears, My vows, my prayers, my sorrow, and my love, My grief, my joy, my hope, and hopeless fears, My heart is thine, and never shall remove. These are not thine, though sent unto thy view, All else I grant, by right they are thine own; Let these suffice that what I swear is true, And more than this if that it could be known. So shall all these though troubles ease my grief; If that they serve to work in thee belief. XIX That time, fair Licia, when I stole a kiss, From off those lips, where Cupid lovely laid, I quaked for cold, and found the cause was this: My life which loved, for love behind me staid. I sent my heart my life for to recall, But that was held, not able to return, And both detained as captives were in thrall, And judged by her, that both by sighs should burn. Fair, burn them both, for that they were so bold, But let the altar be within thy heart; And I shall live because my life you hold, You that give life, to every living part; A flame I took whenas I stole the kiss; Take you my life, yet can I live with this. XX