ΙΟ I I 12 13 What is thy Beloved more than any beloved, That in this wise thou chargest us? 14 15 THE BRIDE. My Beloved is white and red, The chief among ten thousand. Black as the raven-down. His Eyes are like the doves His Cheeks like beds of balsams, Flowers of sweetest smell; His Lips are like the lilies, His Hands have rings of gold, Set with beryl stones; His Body is bright ivory, His Look is like to Lebanon, 16 VI. His Mouth is every sweetness ; This is my Beloved one, DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM. O thou Fair One amongst women? That we may seek for him with thee? THE BRIDE. 2 My Beloved has gone down into his garden, To the beds of balsams, To feed in the gardens, 3 I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved mine; He that feeds among the lilies. PART II.-CHAP. VI. 4-10. The King Returning gives his last Description of the Bride. THE KING. 4 Fair art thou, my Friend, as Tirzah, Beautiful as Jerusalem, Awful as a bannered army; Thy Hair is like a flock of goats, 6 Thy Teeth are like a flock of ewes 7 8 9 ΙΟ Threescore are they, the queens, The only one is she unto her mother, The chosen one she unto her that bare her. The daughters beheld her, And blessed her; The queens and concubines, And praised her : "Who is this that looketh down like the morn, Fair as the moon, Bright as the sun, Awful as the hosts of heaven?” PART III.-CHAP. VI. II-VII. 10. Garden of Nuts in Winter, with approaching Spring; Portrait of the Bride by the Daughters of Jerusalem, II 12 now becoming one with her. THE BRIDE. To the Garden of nuts went I down, If in blossom the pomegranates; VII. DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM. (One in name of many uniting with the Bride. The girdle of thy sides like neck-chains, 2 Thy girdle-clasp a goblet round, 3 4 Thy two breasts like two twinlings of the roe; Thine eyes are the water-pools in Heshbon, 5 Thy head-wreath on thee like to Carmel, The King enchained in the galleries! 6 How fair thou art, and how pleasant, Love, adorned with delights! 7 This form of thine is like the palm, And thy breasts the clusters; |