The upright love thee. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than wine.
The Shulamite
(to the Odalisques.)
I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, comely as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Do not disdain me because I am a little black. It is the sun that has burned me. My mother’s children were angry at me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. Alas! mine own vineyard I have not kept.
(Thinking of her absent lover.)
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou takest thy flocks to rest at noon that I may not wander among the flocks of thy comrades.
An Odalisque
If thou knowest not, O thou fairest among women, follow the flock and feed thy kids by the shepherds’ tents.
To my horse, when harnessed to the chariot that Pharaoh sent me, I compare thee, O my love. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of pearls, thy neck with charms of coral. We will make for thee necklaces of gold, studded with silver.
The Shulamite
(aside.)