Chapter IV: Act I

SOLOMON, IN ALL HIS GLORY, SURROUNDED BY HIS SERAGLIO AND HIS GUARDS.

AN ODALISQUE

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.

CHORUS OF ODALISQUES

Thy love is better than delicious wine. Thy name is ointment poured
forth. Therefore do we love thee.

THE SHULAMITE

(_forcibly introduced, speaking to her absent lover._)

The King hath brought me into his chamber. Draw me away, we will go
together.

THE ODALISQUES

(_to_ SOLOMON.)

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.

SOLOMON

(_to the_ SHULAMITE.)

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._)

While the King sitteth at his divan, my spikenard perfumes me and to me
my beloved is a bouquet of myrrh, unto me he is as a cluster of cypress
in the vines of Engedi.

SOLOMON

Yes, thou art fair, my beloved. Yes, thou art fair. Thine eyes are the
eyes of a dove.

THE SHULAMITE

(_thinking of the absent one._)

Yes, thou art fair, my beloved. Yes, thou art charming, and our tryst is
a litter of green.

SOLOMON

(_to whom constancy has no meaning._)

The beams of our house are cedar and our rafters of fir.

THE SHULAMITE

(_singing._)

I am the rose of Sharon The lily of the valley am I.

(ENTER _suddenly the_ SHEPHERD.)

THE SHEPHERD

As a lily among thorns, so is my love among daughters.

THE SHULAMITE

(_running to him._)

As is the apple among fruit, so is my beloved among men. In delight I
have sat in his shadow and his savor was sweet to my taste. He brought
me to the banquet hall and put o'er me the banner of love.

(_Turning to the_ ODALISQUES.)

Stay me with wine, strengthen me with fruit, for I am swooning with
love.

(_Half-fainting she falls in the_ SHEPHERD'S _arms._)

His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me.

THE SHEPHERD

(_to the_ ODALISQUES.)

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the hinds of
the field, that ye stir not, nor awake my beloved till she will.

THE SHULAMITE

(_dreaming in the_ SHEPHERD'S _arms._)

My own love's voice. Arise, my fair one, he tells me, arise and let us
go....

THE SHEPHERD

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not, nor awake
my beloved till she will.

(SOLOMON _motions; the_ SHEPHERD _is removed._)