Left badinage aside, and unalarmed
Glided from smile to sigh, from sigh to weeping ?
Glide gently, imperceptibly, still onward -
From tear to kiss, - a moment's thrill! - a heart- beat!
Roxane.
Hush! hush!
Cyrano.
A kiss, when all is said, - what is it ?
An oath that's ratified, - a sealed promise,
A heart's avowal claiming confirmation, -
A rose-dot on the 'i' of 'adoration,' -
A secret that to month, not ear, is whispered, -
Brush of a bee's wing, that makes time eternal, -
Communion perfumed like the spring's wildflowers, -
The heart's relieving in the heart's outbreathing,
When to the lips the soul's flood rises, brimming.
Roxane.
Hush! hush!
Cyrano.
A kiss, Madame, is honourable :
The Queen of France, to a most favoured lord
Did grant a kiss - the Queen herself !
Roxane.
What then ?
Cyrano
[speaking more warmly].
Buckingham suffered dumbly, - so have I, -
Adored his Queen, as loyally as I, -
Was sad, but faithful, - so am I. . . .
