What is a kiss? Alacke! at worst,
A single Dropp to quenche a Thirst,
Tho' oft it prooves, in happie Hour,
The first swete Dropp of our long Showre.
_In the Old Time_. C.G. LELAND.
I was betrothed that day;
I wore a troth kiss on my lips I could not give away.
_The Lay of the Brown Rosary, Pt. II_. E.B. BROWNING.
The kiss you take is paid by that you give:
The joy is mutual, and I'm still in debt.
_Heroic Love, Act v. Sc_. 1.
LORD LANDSDOWNE.
Give me a kisse, and to that kisse a score;
Then to that twenty adde a hundred more;
A thousand to that hundred; so kisse on,
To make that thousand up a million;
Treble that million, and when that is done,
Let's kisse afresh, as when we first begun.
_Hesperides to Anthea_. R. HERRICK.
Blush, happy maiden, when you feel
The lips which press love's glowing seal;
But as the slow years darklier roll,
Grown wiser, the experienced soul
Will own as dearer far than they
The lips which kiss the tears away.
_Kisses_. E. AKERS.
Teach not thy lips such scorn: for they were made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt,
_Richard III., Act i. Sc_. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
My lips till then had only known
The kiss of mother and of sister,
But somehow, full upon her own
Sweet, rosy, darling mouth,--I kissed her.
_The Door-Step_. E.C. STEDMAN.
As in the soft and sweet eclipse.
When soul meets soul on lover's lips.
_Prometheus Unbound, Act_ iv. P.B. SHELLEY.
O Love! O fire! once he drew
With one long kiss my whole soul through
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
_Fatima_. A. TENNYSON.
A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love.
_Don Juan, Canto II_. LORD BYRON.
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.--
Her lips suck forth my soul; see, where it flies!--
_Faustus_. C. MARLOWE.
I love the sex, and sometimes would reverse
The tyrant's wish, "that mankind only had
One neck, which he with one fell stroke might pierce;"
My wish is quite as wide, but not so bad,
And much more tender on the whole than fierce;
It being (not _now_, but only while a lad)
That womankind had but one rosy mouth,
To kiss them all at once, from North to South.
_Don Juan, Canto VI_. LORD BYRON.
Or ere I could
Give him that parting kiss, which I had set
Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father
And like the tyrannous breathing of the north
Shakes all our buds from growing.
_Cymbeline, Act i. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.
Eyes, look your last:
Arms, take your last embrace; and lips,
O! you,
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.