Page 66 - Contrast2009

cont'd from 56

Th~'t. M'~ Hebrew script,' .. rapture of sense I ~

Wi th mind' grown dumb', and scroll unreadable

First came when floating from the valley far

'1 heard 'my 'ne-t i ve tongue, long known to me-

Choice vessel;for my sailing thoughts that tread

The wand" !:{ng-s ea Laries of infinity-

in Sp{ightly song come wafting to my ears:

A train of maidens, twirling flowing cloth,

The Daughters of Jerusalem, bright clad,

Tingling with bracelets, ,flowing robes .;their hair

In tresses long or gentle 'braids, and b~ads

,IIT'strings, barefoot they roamed'the,flow'r-strewn path,

-'Mingling through all; their 'perfumed 'scent of oil,

Close friend of ~ncient memory, covered all

My tqoughts, ,ideas, 'wisdom, mind, and soul

In numbhesssweet.

And then our eyes did meet!
A daughter Shulammite, so dark in skin'
But to my eye so fair, so swart but sweet,
As black as tents of far Kedar, but dear
As my near halls, alone of maidens she
Did .find my eye,' and there in meeting it,'
She found my he ar t., The sunlight long had" burn't
Her skin a darkened hue from tending ewes
And rams, or forced by cruel step-brothers strong,
She cared for vineyards thick with grapes that burst
For joy beneath the ripening sun.

The Sun!

The Sun! This word restores 'me and reminds
Of,darker words just penned before this blaze,
This ,dizzy rapture of the mind and head,
When words had meaning, sense, and life, when Thought,
Truth; and Philosophy were all: "0 Vanity
Of vanities! 0 All is Vanity!"

0, beating, heart! ,Such words, dark in themselves,

B'ut"light wi'th th' eye of Reason, hard alone, ,
'But soft by'thoughts massaged 'likejagged stones
By rolling oceans long worn down until
',Soft pebbles, skipping stones, remain. I wrote,
"The sun does ,rise and yet it sets again.
All 'things)are weary;' and nothing .i.snew
Beneath the sun." Yet:thereshe stood not long
Ago ..Her voice. still echoes in my ear.
'Her image lingers in my mind, so fresh,
So new. 0 for a never-ending life
Of rising suns and setting suns, for winds
That of no purpose blow and streams that fill