By Luis G. Dato
“Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part,”
But if so soon it has to be farewell,
Why add more pain upon the aching heart,
Which a kiss leaves, knowing it to be the last?
A kiss will in the memory long dwell,
And rankle with its thought when love is past.
As snow on snow upon the mountains pile,
Or sand on sand to form the deserts dull,
Let there be stony silence, no kiss, no smile,
No warmth of hands, no accents sweet to lure,
Unwary Fancy woven round Love’s skull,
Nor after e’en one memory endure.
Ah, Love, if fate it is that we must part,
Let there be iciness from lips that will
Be stilled forever to my broken heart,
Let me not be unmanned by a last kiss,
By eyes or hands dead love to hearken still,
Thus should love go to meet the dark abyss.
