Part 14 (1/2)

THE BRIDE

The voice of my beloved! behold he cometh, Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: Behold, he standeth behind our wall, He looketh in at the windows, He sheweth himself through the lattice.

My beloved spake, and said unto me: ”Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.

For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom, They give forth their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, And come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice;

For sweet is thy voice, And thy countenance is comely.”

VOICES OF THE BROTHERS (_heard interrupting_)

”Take us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom.”

_My beloved is mine, and I am his:_ _He feedeth his flock among the lilies._ _Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,_ _Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart_ _Upon the mountains of separation._

The Happy Dream

By night, on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

I said, I will rise now, and go about the city, In the streets and in the broad ways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

It was but a little that I pa.s.sed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

_I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,_ _By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,_ _That ye stir not up, nor awaken love,_ _Until it please._

VIII

THE BATTLE OF CARCHEMISH

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Order ye the buckler and s.h.i.+eld, and draw near to battle; Harness the horses, and get up ye hors.e.m.e.n, and stand forth with your helmets; Furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed, And are turned backward, and their mighty ones are beaten down, And are fled apace, and look not back.

Terror is on every side, saith the LORD, Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape: In the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

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