Who is it that comes up from the plain, Leaning upon her beloved? THE SHULAMITE. Under this apple-tree I won thy heart, Here thy mother travailed, Here labouring she gave thee birth. Oh, place me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine hand! For love is strong as death, Affection as inexorable as Hades. Its flames are flames of fire, The flames of the Eternal. Floods cannot quench love; Streams cannot sweep it away. If one should offer all his wealth for love, He would be utterly despised. ONE OF THE BROTHERS OF THE SHULAMITE. Our sister is still young, And is not yet marriageable. What shall we do for our sister, When she shall be demanded in marriage? ANOTHER BROTHER. If she be like a wall, We will build upon her a silver turret. But if she be like a door, We will enclose her with boards of cedar. THE SHULAMITE. I am like a wall, And my bosom is as towers! Then I was in his eyes As one that findeth favour. Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hammon; He let out the vineyard to tenants; Each of whom yielded for the fruit of it A thousand shekels of silver. I will keep my own vineyard: Be the thousands thine, O Solomon, And the two hundreds to the keepers of its fruit! THE SHEPHERD. O thou that dwellest in the gardens, My companions are listening to thy voice, Let me hear thy voice! THE SHULAMITE. Haste, O my beloved, And be like the gazelle, as the young one of the hind, Over the mountains of spices. NOTES 2. Oh for a kiss, &c. That the speaker is a Shulamite shepherdess who had been separated by king Solomon from her beloved, and that she desires to be reunited with him, is evident from verses 4, 7, 8; vii. 1, &c. Excited by the pain of separation, the damsel wishes that her beloved were present, that he could kiss her, for his caresses would cheer her fainting heart more than the best of wines. Wine, either pure or mixed (see infra, vii. 3), is often spoken of by the sacred and profane poets as delighting the hearts of both gods and men, and reviving their drooping spirits. (Judges ix. 13; Ps. civ. 15; Prov. xxxi. 6; Eccl. x. 19.) Hence Helen gave a bowl of mixed wine to her guests oppressed with grief, to raise their spirits. (Hom. Odyss. iv. 220.) Yet the Shulamite declares that she preferred the caresses of her beloved to this highly prized cordial.