* * * * * How shall I woo her? I will bow Before the holy shrine, And pray the prayer, and vow the vow, And press her lips to mine; And I will tell her, when she parts From passion’s thrilling kiss, That memory to many hearts Is dearer far than bliss. PRAED. * * * * * She loved the ripples’ play, As to her feet the truant rovers Wandered and went with a laugh away, Kissing but once, like wayward lovers. PRAED. * * * * * Deep is the bliss of the belted knight, When he kisses at dawn the silken glove, And goes, in his glittering armor dight, To shiver a lance for his Lady-Love! PRAED. * * * * * Dream, while the chill sea-foam In mockery dashes o’er thee, Of the cheerful hearth, and the quiet home, And the kiss of her that bore thee. PRAED. * * * * * I wept and blessed thee, called thee o’er and o’er By that dear name which I must use no more; And kissed with passionate lips the empty air, As if thy image stood before me there. ANON.: _Josephine to Napoleon_. * * * * * My heart can kiss no heart but thine, And if these lips but rarely pine In the pale abstinence of sorrow, It is that nightly I divine, As I this world-sick soul recline, I shall be with thee ere the morrow. BAILEY: _Festus_. * * * * * The smile, the sigh, the tear, and the embrace— All the delights of love at last in one, With kisses close as stars in the Milky Way. BAILEY: _Festus_. * * * * * Frown—toss about—let her lips be for a time: But steal a kiss at last like fire from heaven. BAILEY: _Festus_. * * * * * Oh, weep not—wither not the soul Made saturate with bliss; I would not have one briny tear Embitter Beauty’s kiss. BAILEY: _Festus_. * * * * * Mother’s kiss Was ne’er more welcome to the waking child, After a dream of horrors, than the breeze Upon my feverish brow. ANON.: _Saul_. * * * * * Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; O Death in Life! the days that are no more. TENNYSON: _Princess_. * * * * *