Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/74

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
60
THE KISS

And her image in these words addressing:
'Image fraught to me with so much sadness
Had I known a time was ever coming
When thou shouldst be kissed by agèd lover,
Then amidst the green hills I had wandered,
Gath'ring with my hands their bitter herbage,
Squeezing out of it its acrid juices,
Washed thee then therewith that thou should'st savour
Bitterly wheresoe'r the old man kissed thee.'

'O my lovely image, had I known that
Thou wert fated for a young man's kisses,
I had hurried to the verdant meadows,
Gathered all the roses in the meadows,
Squeezing from the roses their sweet juices,
Laved thee with them, O mine image, that thou
Savoured of fragrance wheresoe'r he kissed thee.'

W. F. H.

A kiss must be given and taken in frank, joyous affection. To have recourse to violence is unknightly, unlovely, and despicable in the highest degree. This is a sphere wherein the brutal axiom regarding the right of the stronger can never hold good. An Albanian folk-song tells us of a young man who is in search of a young maiden with whom he is in love; he finds her at a brook, and, against her will, kisses her mouth and cheeks. Filled with shame, the young maiden tries to wash away the kisses in the brook, but its water is dyed red, and "when the women in the