Kisses and Sin [poem by Grant Hervey]

[Editor: This poem by Grant Hervey was published in Australians Yet and Other Verses, 1913.]

Kisses and Sin

Kiss now ! while the girl is handy —
You can’t when she’s far away ;
Sin now ! lest your life be sandy,
Oasisless and grey.
Kiss now ! while the chance is waiting —
While it lingers at your side ;
For the man who stands debating
Will gain no gladsome bride !

Sin now ! ere gloom and fatness
And their greasy kith and kin
Have filled your years with flatness,
And you know not how to sin.
Kiss now ! while the girl’s complacent —
Kiss now ! ere love grows cold ;
Kiss now ! while her mouth’s adjacent —
Feast now ! while her hair is gold !

Sin NOW ! you are growing older —
Away with your doubts and fears ;
For the greyest ghosts that moulder
In the vale of our latter years
Are the haunting apparitions
Of the sins we contrived to miss,
The uncommitted transgressions —
The girls that we didn’t kiss !

Source:
Grant Hervey. Australians Yet and Other Verses, Thomas C. Lothian, Melbourne, 1913, pages 70-71