Poems (Kennedy)/Raison D'Etre
RAISON D'ÊTRE
WHAT matters the red of a laughing lip If it go unkissed?And where is the worth of small white hands If a lover's clasp be missed?
Red lips may's well be pinched and pale If fates are all unkind,And small white hands go convent-sworn If eyes of men be blind.
For beauty is hostage for sweets of life Since time began to move,And the raison d'être of living at all Is ever and always love.