6 

“And where has your darling gone,

O fairest of women

where has your darling wandered,

that we may look for him too?”

2 

My darling goes to his garden

to flower-beds of balsam

to feed within his garden

and to gather lilies.

3 

For I am my darling’s, my darling ie mine,

he feeds among my lilies.

4 

“You are fair as a crocus, my dear,

lovely as a lily of the valley

you overawe me like an army with banners--

5 

ah, turn aside those eyes of yours,

they daunt me!

Dark stream the tresses of your hair

like goats a-down the slopes of Gilead;

6 

your teeth are like shorn ewe

fresh from the dipping

paired together in rows

not one a-wanting;

7 

your cheeks like slices of pomegranate

behind your veil.”

8 

Sixty queens had Solomon

eighty concubines

maidens without number;

9 

but one alone is my dove, my spotless one,

her mother’s own darling.

Women eye and honour her

queens, concubines, sing in praise of her:

10 

“Who is this, glowing like the dawn,

fair as the moon

clear as the sun

overawing like an army with banners?”

11 

Down I went to the walnut-bower,

to see the green plants of the dale,

to see if the vines were a-bud- ding,

and the pomegranates in flower. 12 . . .

13 

“Maid of Shulem, turn, ah turn, turn, ah turn, that we may see you.”

And what would you see in the maid of Shulem?

“We would see her in the sword-dance.”