Wheeling Daily Intelligencer

KISSES.

Sitting to-night in my chamber,
A bachelor frigid and lonely,
I kiss the end of my pipe stem,
That and that only.
Reveries rise with the smoke wreaths;
Memories tender surround me:
Girls that are married or buried,
Gather round me.
School girls in pantalets romping:
Girls that have grown to be Misses:
Girls that liked to be kissed, and
Liked to give kisses.
Kisses—well I remember them!
Those in the corner were sweetest:
Sweet were those "on the sly:" in the
Dark were the sweetest.
Ann was tender and gentle.
To woo was almost to win her:
Her lips were as good as ripe peaches
And milk for dinner.
Nell was a flirt, and coquettish;
"T'was—catch me and kiss if you can, sir!
Could I catch both—ah! wasn't I
A happy man, sir!
Anna has gone on a mission.
Off to the South Sea sinners;
Nell is a widow, keeps boarders, and
Cooks her own dinners.
Charlotte, and Susan, and Hattie
Mary Jane, Lucy and Maggie:
Four are married and plump—two
Maiden and scraggy
Carrie is dead! Bloom sweetly,
Ye verbenas, over her rest;
Her I loved dearly and truly,
Last and the best.
Thus I sit, smoking and thinking,
A bachelor frigid and lonely:
I kiss the end of my pipe stem,
That and that only.