Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/122

82 THE FIRST KISS OF LOVE.

1.

with your fictions of flimsy romance,

Those tissues of falsehood which Folly has wove;

Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance,

Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love.

2.

Ye rhymers, whose bosoms with fantasy glow,

Whose pastoral passions are made for the grove;

From what blest inspiration your sonnets would flow,

Could you ever have tasted the first kiss of love.

3.

If Apollo should e'er his assistance refuse,

Or the Nine be dispos'd from your service to rove,

Invoke them no more, bid adieu to the Muse,

And try the effect, of the first kiss of love.