Kisses and tears

This poem, whose content inspired the title of the book “Kisses are tears”, was published in issue No. 86 of “El Eco de Daimiel” on June 30, 1886. According to the record, it was recited by Luis Villalón during the evening event held by the Talía Society at the Ayala Theater (in this picture) on the day of Corpus Christi.
 
KISSES AND TEARS
 
Brief existence enjoyed
that angel of tenderness;
she was so young, so pure,
that she flew to God’s throne. 
 
Like the hidden violet
exhales its perfume,
so her life slipped away
amid sighs. 
 
And beyond the blue sphere,
innocent and blessed, she sought
an infinite existence
of endless spring. 
 
But alas! in eternal weeping,
the poor, drowning mother
cries out, sad and anguished,
in painful lament: 
 
“Why, my God, did I lose
my daughter forever?
I who loved her so much!
Almost as much as I love you! 
 
I who, in mystic rapture,
each time she looked at me,
with sweet love gave her
my whole soul in a kiss! 
 
I who, with wild longing,
was always kissing her,
must now weep for her
in perpetual solitude!” 
 
Thus she exclaims in her grief,
the wretched mother, unseeing
that every kiss must become
tears in the end: 
 
If the breeze kisses the flowers,
it sheds tears of dew;
the river sheds tears
if the meadow murmurs love. 
 
If the sea kisses the pleasant shore
swollen with pleasure,
it lets tears flow,
seeping through the sand. 
 
If the playful brook
kisses the stones as it leaps,
it splashes tears
in restless confusion. 
 
If on the trembling branch
or amid its thick foliage
the willow receives a kiss from the wind,
it weeps languidly. 
 
And in the blue firmament,
if the clouds merge
in a single kiss, they scatter
a thousand tears on the wind. 
 
The kiss that throbs,
felt upon the lips,
when love stirs us,
often turns to tears. 
 
That kiss we give upon parting
to the beloved being,
makes us shed tears
and anoints itself in its weeping. 
 
And whenever we feel
the sensation we crave,
it is so sweet that we cry,
and crying, we smile; 
 
for though we cannot see how
pain joins pleasure,
where a kiss asks,
a tear responds. 
 
For if a kiss is the expression
of an infinite feeling,
a tear is the heart’s
greatest cry. 
 
We can well affirm
that the pleasure a kiss exhales
forms the invisible ladder
down which tears must descend. 
 
Thus, the sorrowful mother weeps,
afflicted without calm,
for even the kisses of the soul
are wept throughout life. 
 
And it is an ill-fated condition
that accompanies us at birth,
for every kiss must become
tears in the end. 

A well-documented exploration of Medicine, Pharmacy, and rural society in the 19th century through two biographies that should not be forgotten:
“Kisses are tears”: https://a.co/d/eCok2Y0