Chapter VII: Act IV: The Seraglio

THE SHULAMITE

(_musing._)

I sleep but my heart waketh. I heard the voice of my beloved. He
knocked. Open to me! he said. My sister, my love, my immaculate dove,
open to me, for my head is covered with dew, the locks of my hair are
wet ... I rose to open to my beloved ... but he was gone. My soul
faileth me when he spoke not. I sought him, but I could not find him. I
called him but he did not reply.

(_A pause._ SHE _relates the story of her abduction._)

The watchman that went about the city found me, they smote me, they
wounded me, and the keepers of the walls took away my veil.

(_To the_ ODALISQUES.)

I pray you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him
that I die of love.

CHORUS OF ODALISQUES

In what is the superiority of thy lover, O pearl among women, that thou
beseechest us so?

THE SHULAMITE

My beloved's skin is white and ruddy. He is one in a thousand.... His
eyes are as doves.... His cheeks are a bed of flowers.... He is
charming. Such is my beloved, such is my dear one, O daughters of
Jerusalem.

CHORUS OF ODALISQUES

Whither is thy beloved gone, O pearl among women? Which way did he turn,
that we may seek him with thee?

THE SHULAMITE

My beloved is gone from the garden.... But I am his and he is mine. He
feedeth his flocks among lilies.

(_Enter_ SOLOMON.)

(_The_ SHULAMITE _looks scornfully at him._)

SOLOMON

Thou art beautiful as Tirzah, my love, and comely as Jerusalem, but
terrible as an army in battle. Turn thine eyes away. They trouble me....

THE SHEPHERD

(_from without._)

There are sixty queens, eighty favorites, and numberless young girls.
But among them all my immaculate dove is unique, she is the darling of
her mother. The young girls have seen her and called her blessed. The
queens and the favorites have praised her.

THE CHORUS

(_astonished at the_ SHULAMITE'S _scorn of the King._)

Who is it that is beautiful as Tirzah but terrible as an army in battle?

THE SHULAMITE

(_impatiently turning her back, and relating again her abduction._)

I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the green plants in the
valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in
flower. But before I was aware of it, I was among the chariots of my
princely people.

THE CHORUS

Turn about, turn again, O Shulamite, that we may see thee.

A DANCER

What will you see in the Shulamite whom the King has compared to an
army?

SOLOMON

(_to the_ SHULAMITE.)

How beautiful are thy feet, prince's daughter,... How fair and how
pleasant art thou....

THE SHULAMITE

(_impatiently as before._)

I am my beloved's and he is sighing for me.

(_Exit_ SOLOMON. _Enter the_ SHEPHERD.)

THE SHULAMITE

(_hastening to her lover._)

Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the fields, let us lodge in the
villages. We will rise early and see if the vine flourishes and the
grape is ripe and the pomegranates bud. There will I caress thee. The
love-apples perfume the air and at our gates are all manner of rich
fruit, new and old, which I have kept for thee, my beloved. Oh, that
thou wert my brother, that, when I am with thee without, I might kiss
thee and not be mocked at. I want to take and bring thee into my
mother's house. There thou shalt instruct me and I will give thee spiced
wine and the juice of my pomegranates.

(_Falling in his arms and calling to the_ ODALISQUES.)

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

THE SHEPHERD

(_to the chorus._)

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