We’re Hungry for each other’s Mouths²
The Sunlight Clasps the Earth, and the
Moonbeams Kiss the Sea – what are all
These kissings worth, if thou Kiss not Me?³
He Kisses this girl – and Forever Weds his
Unutterable Visions to her Perishable Breath⁴
For just One Kiss that your Lips have given in the
Lost and Beautiful Past to me – I’d gladly Barter
My hopes of Heaven and all the Bliss of Eternity⁵
He Bruises her body with salty spilling Kisses
Of his Sex: each Bruise blooms with Pleasure
That fills her with Hot Dissolving Blossoms⁶
Sudden White-Hot Rapturous Pressure
Of Lip upon Lip – Being upon Being⁷
Let Lips do what Hands do: they
Pray – lest Faith turn to Despair⁸
Leave a Kiss but in the Cup –
And I’ll not look for Wine⁹
Only One answer Answers
Of our Questions: *Kiss*¹⁰
¹ Mary Oliver, I Know Someone
² Lawrence T. Giles, Last Poem
³ Percy Bysshe Shelley, Love’s Philosophy
⁴ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
⁵ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Ad Finem
⁶ Mary Gaitskill, The Little Boy
⁷ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
⁸ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
⁹ Ben Johnson, Song to Celia II
¹⁰ Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, & Howard Koch, Casablanca