From Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare

Here are two erotic stanzas from Venus and Adonis, a narrative poem by William Shakespeare. In each of the stanzas below, Venus is speaking to Adonis.

"Is thine own heart to thine own face affected?
Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left?
Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected,
Steal thine own freedom, and complain on theft.
   Narcissus so himself himself forsook,
   And died to kiss his shadow in the brook."

"Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here
Within the circuit of this ivory pale,
I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;
Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
   Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry,
   Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

William Shakespeare on Love and Lust

A stanza from Venus and Adonis (1592)
a narrative poem by William Shakespeare

(Adonis is speaking to Venus.)

"Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,
But Lust's effect is tempest after sun;
Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain,
Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done;
   Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies;
   Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies."

To read about Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis click here.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)