THERE'S a jolly Saxon proverb That is pretty much like this, -- That a man is half in heaven If he has a woman's kiss. There is danger in delaying, For the sweetness may forsake it; So I tell you, bashful lover, If you want a kiss, why, take it. Never let another fellow Steal a march on you in this; Never let a laughing maiden See you spoiling for a kiss. There's a royal way to kissing, And the jolly ones who make it Have a motto that is winning, -- If you want a kiss, why, take it. Any fool may face a cannon, Anybody wear a crown, But a man must win a woman If he'd have her for his own. Would you have the golden apple, You must find the tree and shake it; If the thing is worth the having, And you want a kiss, why, take it. Who would burn upon a desert With a forest smiling by? Who would change his sunny summer For a bleak and wintry sky? Oh, I tell you there is magic, And you cannot, cannot break it; For the sweetest part of loving Is to want a kiss, and take it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BIRDS OF VIETNAM by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE IMPOSSIBLE INDISPENSIBILITY OF THE ARS POETICA by HAYDEN CARRUTH WOODSMOKE AT 70 by HAYDEN CARRUTH LA NOCHE TRISTE by ROBERT FROST SONG OF THE WAVE by ROBERT FROST DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 6. SUNSET IN THE TROPICS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |