Ten Kisses (Shakespeare)

from Venus and Adonis
by William Shakespeare

“Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed,
And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;
If thou wilt deign this favor, for thy meed
A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know,
Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses,
And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses;

“And yet not cloy thy lips with loath’s saciety,
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.”