WHO was it, tell me, that first of men reckon'd Time by the hour and the minute and second? A soulless man, without heart or light, He sat and he mused in the long winter's night, And counted the pittering steps of the mouse, And the pick of the woodworm that gnawed at the house. Kisses, now tell me, who first did discover? It was the warm happy mouth of a lover; He kiss'd without ceasing, he kiss'd without care, He kiss'd his first kiss in the May-season fair; The flowers from their emerald cradle upsprang, The sun brightly beam'd, the birds sweetly sang. (@3Richard Garnett@1) | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN HOSPITAL: 28. DISCHARGED by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VERSES READ by ROBERT HERRICK TO MRS. THRALE [ON HER COMPLETING HER THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR] by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) TACKING SHIP OFF SHORE by WALTER MITCHELL IN THE ROOM by JAMES THOMSON (1834-1882) SONNET TO LIBERTY by OSCAR WILDE |