DAVID TO BATHSHEBA

VERY red are the roses of Sharon,

But redder thy mouth,

There is nard, there is myrrh, in En Gedi,

From the uplands of Lebanon, heavy

With balsam, the winds

Drift freighted and scented and cedarn —

But thy mouth is more precious than spices!

Thy breasts are twin lilies of Kedron;

White lilies, that sleep

In the shallows where loitering Kedron

Broadens out and is lost in the Jordan;

Globed lilies, so white

That David, thy King, thy beloved

Declareth them meet for his gardens.

Under the stars very strangely

The still waters gleam;

Deep down in the waters of Hebron

The soul of the starlight is sunken,

But deep in thine eyes

Stirs a more wonderful secret

Than pools ever learn of the starlight.