Kiss From a Princess

How can one equate or compare
Other lips upon mine to share
When the timeless kiss once given
By my princess still lingers there?

For once bestowed upon the man
Myself, the peasant artisan
It's taste an ever-sustenance
A sweet softness in confession.

And from such a kiss whereupon
The peasant turns to champion.
For her, thy standard, I shall bear
Through time beyond all condition.

Though perhaps I become moreso
Than my esteem thinks it knows,
And certainly less fitting am I;
No princely blood through me flows.

Hence, departed we are from then;
Time a gulf to ever-widen.
From her and the warm memories,
The distance a sea without end.

Yet in my heart is a tempest
And I shall not be any less
Than before my love was kindled
By the kiss from a princess.

Jason Behnke
2004