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The Chorus
(calling to women in the houses.)
Come forth, daughters of Zion, and behold the King…
Act III
The Seraglio
Solomon
(to the Shulamite.)
Yes, thou art fair, my love, yes, thou art fair. Thou hast dove’s eyes… Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot on thee.
The Shepherd
(without, in the garden, calling to the Shulamite and referring in veiled terms to the seraglio and its dangers.)
Come to me, my betrothed, come to me from Lebanon. Look at me from the top of Amana, from the summit of Shenir and Hermon, from the lion’s den and the mountain of leopards.
(The Shulamite goes to a window and looks out.)
The Shepherd
You have strengthened my heart, my sister betrothed, you have strengthened my heart with one of thine eyes, with one of the curls that float on thy neck. How dear is thy love, my sister betrothed! Thy caresses are better than wine, and the fragrance of thy garments is sweeter than spice.
The Shulamite
Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.
The Shepherd
I am come into my garden, my sister betrothed, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(To the chorus.)
Eat, comrades, drink abundantly, friends.
(The Shepherd and the chorus withdraw.)
Act IV
The Seraglio
The Shulamite
(musing.)
I sleep but my heart waketh. I heard the voice of my beloved. He knocked. Open to me! he said. My sister, my love, my immaculate dove, open to me, for my head is covered with dew, the locks of my hair are wet … I rose to open to my beloved … but he was gone. My soul faileth me when he spoke not. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him but he did not reply.
(A pause. She relates the story of her abduction.)
The watchman that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me, and the keepers of the walls took away my veil.
(To the Odalisques.)
I pray you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him that I die of love.
Chorus of Odalisques
In what is the superiority of thy lover, O pearl among women, that thou beseechest us so?
The Shulamite
My beloved’s skin is white and ruddy. He is one in a thousand… His eyes are as doves… His cheeks are a bed of flowers… He is charming. Such is my beloved, such is my dear one, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Chorus of Odalisques
Whither is thy beloved gone, O pearl among women? Which way did he turn, that we may seek him with thee?
The Shulamite
My beloved is gone from the garden… But I am his and he is mine. He feedeth his flocks among lilies.
(Enter Solomon.)
(The Shulamite looks scornfully at him.)
Solomon
Thou art beautiful as Tirzah, my love, and comely as Jerusalem, but terrible as an army in battle. Turn thine eyes away. They trouble me…
The Shepherd
(from without.)
There are sixty queens, eighty favorites, and numberless young girls. But among them all my immaculate dove is unique, she is the darling of her mother. The young girls have seen her and called her blessed. The queens and the favorites have praised her.
The Chorus
(astonished at the Shulamite’s scorn of the King.)
Who is it that is beautiful as Tirzah but terrible as an army in battle?
The Shulamite
(impatiently turning her back, and relating again her abduction.)
I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the green plants in the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower. But before I was aware of it, I was among the chariots of my princely people.
The Chorus
Turn about, turn again, O Shulamite, that we may see thee.
A Dancer
What will you see in the Shulamite whom the King has compared to an army?
Solomon
(to the Shulamite.)
How beautiful are thy feet, prince’s daughter… How fair and how pleasant art thou…
The Shulamite
(impatiently as before.)
I am my beloved’s and he is sighing for me.
(Exit Solomon. Enter the Shepherd.)
The Shulamite
(hastening to her lover.)
Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the fields, let us lodge in the villages. We will rise early and see if the vine flourishes and the grape is ripe and the pomegranates bud. There will I caress thee. The love-apples perfume the air and at our gates are all manner of rich fruit, new and old, which I have kept for thee, my beloved. Oh, that thou wert my brother, that, when I am with thee without, I might kiss thee and not be mocked at. I want to take and bring thee into my mother’s house. There thou shalt instruct me and I will give thee spiced wine and the juice of my pomegranates.
(Falling in his arms and calling to the Odalisques.)
His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me.
The Shepherd
(to the chorus.)
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not nor awake my beloved till she will.
Act V
The Village of Shulam
(The Shulamite, who has escaped from the seraglio is carried in by her lover.)
Chorus of Villagers
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
The Shepherd
(to the Shulamite.)
I awake thee under the apple tree.
(He points to the house.)
There thou wert born.
The Shulamite
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy cruel as the grave; the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord. But many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. The man who seeks to purchase it acquires but contempt.
EPILOGUE
A Cottage at Shulam
First Brother of the Shulamite
(thinking of a younger sister whom he would sell when she is older.)
We have a little sister, still immature. What shall we do with her when she is spoken for?
Second Brother
If by then she is comely, we will get for her silver from a palace. If she is not comely, we will get the value of cedar boards.
The Shulamite
(ironically intervening.)
I am comely, yet I made them let me be.
First Brother
(significantly.)
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He leased it to farmers each of whom was to pay him a thousand pieces of silver.
The Shulamite
But my vineyard which is mine I still have.
(Laughing.)
A thousand pieces for thee, Solomon, and two hundred for the others.
(At the door the Shepherd appears. Behind him are comrades.)
