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Imagine if kisses weren’t real.

Imagine if lips didn’t meet.

If you didn’t feel the tenderness

or the passion or softness

or hardness of the mouth.

What if kisses went untasted?

 

Imagine if the kiss never existed.

Not a peck on the cheek

from an elderly aunt,

a kiss on the forehead

when you were a child.

What if your first kiss never happened?

What would the bride and groom do

after saying their vows?

Would Snow White still be sleeping?

How would you say goodbye?

 

What if kisses were forbidden?

Lips would feel empty,

mouths would turn down.

Tongues would never

have a chance to meet.

Hearts wouldn’t race.

How would passion begin?

 

But we do kiss.

We are lucky, blessed even,

that somewhere, at sometime

two people were drawn to each other’s lips.

Were they tentative at first,

frightened even,

at the thought of sharing breath,

at the thought of being drawn

to something that beforehand

had only been useful for forming words?

 

I, for one, am thankful

that they took the chance,

that their lips met,

and they were stirred

throughout their bodies.

I am thankful their toes tingled

and their hearts raced,

and they told their friends

and the kiss became popular.

I, for one, am a big fan of the kiss.

Melanie Civin Kenion

Melanie Civin Kenion is spending her retirement writing poetry, traveling as much as possible, and playing Rummikub with her grandson.

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