Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AGRO-DOLCE, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AGRO-DOLCE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: One kiss from all others prevents me
Last Line: The sunshine and shade of my day.
Subject(s): Kisses


ONE kiss from all others prevents me,
And sets all my pulses astir,
And burns on my lips and torments me:
'T is the kiss that I fain would give her.

One kiss for all others requites me,
Although it is never to be,
And sweetens my dreams and invites me:
'T is the kiss that she dare not give me.

Ah, could it be mine, it were sweeter
Than honey bees garner in dream,
Though its bliss on my lips were fleeter
Than a swallow's dip to the stream.

And yet, thus denied, it can never
In the prose of life vanish away;
O'er my lips it must hover forever,
The sunshine and shade of my day.





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