The Power of Words

Poetry expands our minds, calms our souls, and allows us to see the world through new perspectives.

It captures emotions, preserves history, and gives voice to personal and collective struggles.

Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957), Chilean poet, educator, and diplomat, was South America’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature (1945). A lesbian woman, she defied societal norms, advocating for education, social justice, and women's rights. Her poem Kisses beautifully expresses the depth and complexity of human connection. Major works like Desolación (1922) and Tala (1938) reflect love, sorrow, and nature. Beyond literature, she shaped global education policies and inspired future generations.

Gabriela Mistral’s Kisses translated by Carolyn Forché.

Gabriela Mistral’s Kisses translated by Carolyn Forché.

There are kisses that pronounce a sentence condemning us to love

There are kisses given with a glance

There are kisses given in memory

There are silent kisses.

Noble kisses

There are kisses enigmatic and sincere

There are kisses given only by souls

There are forbidden kisses and true ones

There are kisses that burn and hurt

Kisses that startle the senses

There are mysterious kisses that leave behind a thousand wondering and lost dreams

There are troublesome that hold a key to something that no one has found

There are kisses that cause tragedy, so many rosebuds stripped of their pedals

There are scented kisses, warm kisses that throb with intimate longings

There are kisses that leave traces on the lips like a field of sun between two slabs of ice

There are kisses that are like lilies, sublime, na?ve, pure

There are treacherous and cowardly kisses

There are kisses cursed and purged

Judas kisses Jesus and leaves on the face of God his felony

While Magdalene with her kisses massively soothes his agony

Since then in kisses love throbs and also betrayal and pain

In human weddings that all look the same to the breeze that plays among the flowers

There are kisses that cause delirium of burning love and crazy passion

You know them well, they are my kisses, invented by me for your mouth

Flaming kisses that leave a trail in the wake of forbidden love

Storm kisses, wild kisses but only our lips have known

Do you remember the first?

Undefinable. It covered your face with red blooms and a spasm of fierce emotions, your eyes weld with tears

Do you remember that one afternoon when, in wanton madness, I saw you jealous, imagining a wrong. I took you in my arms with a vibrating kiss and what did you later see? Blood on my? lips.

I taught you to kiss. ?Cold kisses and passive with a heart of stone

I taught you to kiss with my kisses

Invented by me for your mouth

Hear the poem in English and the original Spanish.