 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
32
A KISS FOR EVER.
Two lovers were found, slain by lightning. And it seemed as if, when the lightning slew them, they were in the act of kissing one another.
I
They stood beneath the roses in the lane—The honeysuckle breathed upon the pair,
The roses shed their petals in her hair
And blushed for joy—two lives without a stain,
With pleasure pale and passing into pain
Were hand in hand together, and the air
About them both a perfume seemed to bear,
A misty veil that closed around the twain
And hid them from the world: her gentle breath
Rises and falls and lightly fans his face,
The after-sunset silence of the place
Broods o'er them sleepily, as still as death,
Save only when from time to time he saith
Low words, her rosy lips soft whispers grace.
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II
A little while, and then the first-born kiss,Long, lovingly and lingeringly taken,
By one who feels the whole wide world of bliss
For him that rosebud cup contains; a shaken
Wild rosebush sprinkles them with drops of dew,
Pure, pearly, dripped from off the leafy fingers—
They nestle in her hair and trickle through—
All save one larger loitering pearl that lingers
Crowning the fair white circle of her brow
In sign that she too reigns henceforth a queen,
A queen among the pure; the branches bow,
And eyes of love the sprays and flowers atween
Seem softly to peep out upon a pair
Together soon the life of death to share.
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III
For, from on high, the Lord of Love looked downOn man and maid, and saw that these were pure,
And, pleased, prepared right royally to crown
Their lips with a white kiss that should endure,
The kiss for which fair lovers have been sighing
Through all the ages that have passed away,
A kiss to last for ever, never flying
Through all the hours of Eternal Day;
And this they won; Love sent his servant Lightning
To seal for ever their one lovers' kiss,
And bear them gently, softly, without frightening,
To spend their honeymoon in brighter bliss,
Among the lanes where faithful lovers walk
In heaven, to renew that evening's broken talk.
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