Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/188

174 A similar figurative use is extraordinarily common with the poets. H. C. Andersen, in Goose-grass, says of the lark that it flies past the tulip and other aristocratic flowers only to light on the sward by the humble goose-grass, which it kisses with its beak, and for which it sings its joyous song. The other poets represent the waves as kissing the white beach, the bees, the scented flowers; and the ears of corn in the fields as heaving beneath the warm kisses of the sun's golden rays. The sun's kisses are oscula sancta; every creature shares in them, for they are the most beautiful expression of God's love. Ingemann sings in a morning hymn: