An hour passed, and the fire leaped up in little ecstasies as though its fading life was sweet. It was five now, and the clock over the mantel became articulate in sound. Then as if a brutish sensibility in him was reminded by those thin, tinny beats that the petals were falling from the flowered afternoon, Anthony pulled her quickly to her feet and held her helpless, without breath, in a kiss that was neither a game nor a tribute.

“The Beautiful and the Damned,” Scott Francis Fitzgerald

There are great passages about romantic kisses in literature, but this is one of the best.  Love and passion make the sorroundings come alive:”the fire leaped up in little ecstasies,” “clock over the mantel became articulate,” “the petals were falling from the flowered afternoon.” Blessed are those of us who have experienced this kind of kiss, for we have already been in heaven.