The Interrupted Visit

THE BRIDE

6

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: fair one,

"Rise up, my love, my

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.

16

The Happy Dream

8

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 passed 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.

IDYL III

THE DAY OF BETROTHAL