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The Old Soldier’s Story

by James Whitcomb Riley

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The Lost Thrill

I grow so weary, someway, of all thing
  That love and loving have vouchsafed to me,
  Since now all dreamed-of sweets of ecstasy
Am I possessed of: The caress that clings—
The lips that mix with mine with murmurings
  No language may interpret, and the free,
  Unfettered brood of kisses, hungrily
Feasting in swarms on honeyed blossomings
Of passion’s fullest flower—For yet I miss
  The essence that alone makes love divine—
The subtle flavoring no tang of this
  Weak wine of melody may here define:—
A something found and lost in the first kiss
  A lover ever poured through lips of mine.

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