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._) ACT II. A STREET IN JERUSALEM. In the distance is Solomon and his retinue. CHORUS OF MEN Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness, exhaling the odor of myrrh and of frankincense and all the powders of the perfumer? (SOLOMON _and his retinue advance._) FIRST JERUSALEMITE Behold the palanquin of Solomon. Three score valiant men are about it. They all hold swords....