No other thoughts, no other cares,
Just the quenching of mad desire.
Riding the tide of passion,
Pushing my love into you.
On the waves of your emotion –
In slow motion, so sweet and true.
Pulse pounding in resounding rapture,
Taken to the hilt, then just past….
~Michael Anderson, "More!"

i like my body when it is with your
body…. which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur…
~e.e. cummings

I see myself holding you close to me,
Squeezing your body tight.
But for all I see as I daydream –
I know I’ll get tenfold tonight….
~Michael Anderson, "More!"

Spring forest flowers are so charming.
Spring birds pour out grief.
Spring winds come with exuberant love –
they lift up my silk skirt.
~Zi Ye, translated

Come to me, press upon my brow the coolness of your
Young lips that I may hear the thunder of your love in the night….
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

And, like a ripe moon out of flimsy clouds,
Blossoms the shining fulness of your breast.
These curves conceal, this dear perfection shrouds
A soft, miraculous nest….
~Louis Untermeyer, "Ivory and Rose"

Then in a burst of blinding weather.
The lightnings flung
Long, passionate arms about the earth that clung
To her wild lover.
Suddenly above her
The whole sky tumbled in a sweeping blaze,
Gathering earth in one tight-locked embrace,
Drenching her in a flood of silver flame.
Hot thunders came;
And still the storm kept plunging, seeking ever
The furthest cranny, till the faraway
Streams felt each penetrating quiver
And the most hidden river
Rose and became released….
~Louis Untermeyer, "Summer Storm"

I shall lie in the warm embrace of my Love.
He will draw me close to him – and a little closer,
And his strong arms will soothe my quivering body:
And his tender kisses will cool the fever of my burning lips….
~Olga Mishkin, "Surrender"

Winter skies are cold and low, with harsh winds and freezing sleet.  But when we make love beneath our quilt, we make three summer months of heat.  ~Tzu Yeh, translated

So sweet and delicious do I become,
when I am in bed with a man
who, I sense, loves and enjoys me,
that the pleasure I bring excels all delight,
so the knot of love, however tight
it seemed before, is tied tighter still.
~Veronica Franco

She pulled her Robes off one by one,
And did her self undress.
Her purple Mantle fring’d with Gold,
Her Ivory Hands unpinned;
It would have made a Coward bold,
Or tempted a Saint to ‘a sinned….
~Author Unknown, "The Surpris’d Nymph, 1700s

She exposed her nethermost attire
Unto the embraces of the fire;
So the chaste Phoenix of the East
With fluttering fires her spicy nest….
[F]inding no resistance, higher
As ’tis their nature to aspire,
Approaching near the seat of bliss,
The centre of earthly happiness,
Which vastly more of pleasure yields,
Than all the feigned Elysian fields….
~Thomas Brown, "Melisinda’s Misfortune"

Silently the soul inspire,
To kindle at thy lover’s fire…
And like this downy swelling breast,
They rise, and languish to be pressed…
~William Pattison, "The Enjoyment," 1728

Her lips on his could tell him better than all her stumbling words.  ~Margaret Mitchell

Ye Gods! the raptures of that night!
What fierce convulsions of delight!
How in each other’s arms involv’d
We lay confounded, and dissolved!
Bodies mingling, sexes blending,
Which should most be lost contending,
Darting fierce and flaming kisses,
Plunging into boundless blisses;
Our bodies, and our souls on fire.
Tost by a tempest of Desire;
Till with utmost fury driven,
Down, at once, we sunk to heaven.
~Author Unknown, "The Enjoyment"

They saw as I your quivering breast, and drew
Nearer to the consuming flame that burns
Deep to the marrow of my bone, and turns
My heart to love even as theirs who knew
From head to girdle each sweet curve of you,
Each little way of loving….
~George Sylvester Viereck, "The Haunted House"

Enslave me to your wanton charms,
Crush me in your velvet arms
And make me, make me love you.
Make me fire your blood with new desire,
And make me kiss you – lip and limb,
Till senses reel and pulses swim….
~Alfred Bryan, "Enthralled," 1921

In the searching light of her eyes,
In the fugitive flush of her cheeks,
In the fainting pink of her palm,
In the speed-mad pulse of her wrist,
In the throb and flight of her heart…
~Katherine W. McCluskey, "Bridegroom"

The raging fire which urged us on was scorching us; it would have burned us had we tried to restrain it.  ~Giacomo Casanova

My hot strong hands will no veil endure
That shadows your radiant nakedness;
Lay bare each beauty, conceal no lure,
Leave naught to hinder my fond caress!…
~George Sylvester Viereck, "Love Triumphant"

I want a red dress.  I want it flimsy and cheap, I want it too tight, I want to wear it until someone tears it off me.  ~Kim Addonizio, "What Do Women Want?"

Be no longer tender.
Cover me with frenzied kisses, – even as I would drench my body in the cruel torrents of the rain.
Envelop me from throat to ankle in delirium intolerable….
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

To love you like the midnight storm!…
To hear the wild beating of your veins; to feel flame shuddering your blood and to agonize you with my ardor.
To crush you as a flower upon my breast,
To bear you away to some secret valley where I would love you into insensibility….
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

I lift to you
My bowl of kisses,
And through the temple’s
Blue recesses
Cry out to you
In wild caresses….
~D.H. Lawrence, "Mystery"

How I love all of you!  Do you feel me wrap you
Up with myself and my warmth, like a flame round the wick?…
~D.H. Lawrence, "Wedlock"

My slender waist and thighs are exhausted and weak from a night of cloud dancing.  ~Huang O, translated

She holds his stem,
and her heart throbs hard.
He sucks her tongue softly,
feeling ecstatic dizziness…
~Bai Xingjian, "The Wedding Night," translated

Her lovely yielding form I prest,
Sweet Maddening Kisses stole;
And soon her swimming Eyes confest,
The wishes of her Soul:
In wild tumultuous Bliss I cry,
O Delia now be kind,
She pressed me close and with a Sigh,
To melting joys resign’d…
~James Oswald, "The Progress of Love," 1700s

Then did she by degrees
Wash every part in rank,
Her Arms, her breasts, her thighs,
Her Belly, and her Flank;
Her legs she opened wide,
My eyes I let down steal,
Until that I espied
Dame nature’s privy Seal.
~Author Unknown, "The Maid a Bathing"

When I think of you,
fireflies in the marsh rise
like the soul’s jewels,
lost to eternal longing,
abandoning my body.
~Izumi Shikibu

Thou art a flower, dear heart, a fragrant flower
And I, the wandering, hair-clad, amorous bee.
‘Mongst all the regal beauties of the bower,
I seek but thee.
I feel the ivory of thy petals fair
Brush lightly on my belly as I woo
And I would sting thee, if I did but dare,
So sweet you are.
I suck the honey from your dewy bowl
And drunken mad, with wild, delirious bliss,
Within your cup, I yield to you my soul
And drink your kiss….
~Author Unknown

Let of her bosom’s bower be shown…
Ungirdled treasure, warm and bare….
~Maurice Hewlett, "Leto’s Child"

Lay your heart against my heart that I may hear your love summoning me to forgetfulness….
Lay your mouth on my mouth until all dissolves in mist about me….
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

My sweetheart has the kindest breast,
Two heavens with each a single star;
They give me everything but rest,
So strange these rosy pillows are….
~Louis Untermeyer, "Almost"

And Nature’s noblest gift to man was given:
A gentle, throbbing, trembling, beauteous maid,
Fair as the man, but with a softer shade,
Endowed with beauty and a thousand charms
That sought the sheltering clasp of loving arms….
~Author Unknown, "The Fall of Man"

I hold my skirt, sash untied
and stand before the window with unpainted eyebrows.
Silk clothes fly open so easily.
If my skirt opens, I’ll blame the spring wind!
~Zi Ye, translated

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair…. ~Pablo Neruda, translated from Spanish by Stephen Tapscott

On your lips I should drain the fountain of life.
On your white breast I shall breath the perfume of numberless lilies.
Therein I shall die a thousand deaths and arise reborn in the awful splendor of your love….
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

Purple as tulips in May, mauve
into lush velvet, purple
as the stain blackberries leave
on the lips, on the hands,
the purple of ripe grapes
sunlit and warm as flesh….
~Marge Piercy, "Colors Passing Through Us"

The god in me and the beast in me
And all deep things come up to light;
And I would barter my soul to be
The prize of love for a single night….
~George Sylvester Viereck, "Love Triumphant"