There's a kiss of Nature charming,
The fond mother's kiss to her child.
The babe's fancied fears disarming,
By the touch of her lips, so mild
That visions of sleep, alarming,
Fade fast from its mind beguiled.

A kiss that ignoreth reason,
Is the kissing of roused desire.
'Tis blind to a future treason,
And does naught of the past inquire:
For the spice of lust in season
Has the heat and the strength of fire.

There's a kiss of noble pleasure —
The lover's kiss to his bride.
An embrace that hearts can treasure
With feelings of joy and of pride;
Till later, those hearts can measure
The full flood of the marriage tide.

There's a kiss as warm and winning
To the sense as golden wine;
'Tis the kiss of love beginning,
For whose magic, lips pout and pine;
God pardons the bliss of sinning,
For its essence is right divine.

There's a kiss — the kiss of parting;
An unwelcome, sad embrace,
When unchecked tears are darting
O'er a pallid, anxious face,
As the moment nears for starting
O'er treacherous seas and worlds of space.

There's a kiss of anguish, horrid,
When Death comes to claim its prey;
When blanched are cheeks once florid,
When mourners kneel round and pray;
That kiss on a chilly forehead,
When a loved life ebbs away.