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Poetry · PoemTo Electra
Robert HerrickSeventeenth-century EnglishPoem
诗
SOURCE TEXT · English original
I DARE not ask a kiss,
I dare not beg a smile,
Lest having that, or this,
I might grow proud the while.
No, no, the utmost share
Of my desire shall be
Only to kiss that air
That lately kissèd thee.
Cultural readingReading the poem
The speaker refuses to ask even for a kiss or a smile, and settles instead for kissing the air that has just touched the beloved.
Language notesText and edition
The English text follows the fixed historical witness in The Oxford Book of English Verse; no modern third-party translation is included.