| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | The Kiss | | By Thomas Stanley (1625–1678) |
| | | WHEN on thy lip my soul I breathe, | |
| Which there meets thine, | |
| Freed from their fetters by this death, | |
| Our subtle forms combine: | |
| Thus without bonds of sense they move, | 5 |
| And like two cherubim converse by love. | |
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| Spirits to chains of earth confin’d | |
| Discourse by sense; | |
| But ours, that are by flames refin’d, | |
| With those weak ties dispense. | 10 |
| Let such in words their minds display: | |
| We in a kiss our mutual thoughts convey. | |
| |
| But since my soul from me doth fly, | |
| To thee retir’d, | |
| Thou canst not both retain; for I | 15 |
| Must be with one inspir’d; | |
| Then, Dearest, either justly mine | |
| Restore, or in exchange let me have thine. | |
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| Yet if thou dost return mine own, | |
| O tak’t again! | 20 |
| For ’tis this pleasing death alone | |
| Gives ease unto my pain. | |
| Kill me once more, or I shall find | |
| Thy pity than thy cruelty less kind. | | | | |
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