Ines Sent a Kiss to Me
[From the Spanish of Silvestre.]
Ines sent a kiss to me,
While we danced upon the green:
Let that kiss a blessing be,
And conceal no woes unseen.
How I dared I know not now,—
While we danced, I gently said,
Smiling, “Give me, lovely maid,
Give me one sweet kiss!”—when, lo!
Gathering blushes robed her brow,
And, with love and fear afraid,
Thus she spoke: “I’ll send the kiss
In a calmer day of bliss.”
Then I cried, “Dear maid! what day
Can be half so sweet as this?
Throw not hopes and joys away;
Send, oh, send the promised kiss!
Can so bright a gift be mine,
Bought without a pang of pain?
’Tis perchance a ray divine,
Darker night to bring again.
“Could I dwell on such a thought,
I of very joy should die;
Naught of earth’s enjoyments, naught,
Could be like that ecstasy.
I will pay her interest meet,
When her lips shall breathe on me,
And for every kiss so sweet
Give her many more than three.”