Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHIEF AMONG TEN THOUSAND (SONG OF SOLOMON), by HORATIO (HORATIUS) BONAR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHIEF AMONG TEN THOUSAND (SONG OF SOLOMON), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold thou art all fair, my love
Last Line: And eat his fruits of love.
Subject(s): David (d. 962 B.c.); Heaven; Jews; Love - Loss Of; Paradise; Judaism


BEHOLD thou art all fair, my love;
Thine eyes, thy locks, thy brow
All excellence and comeliness—
How beautiful art thou!

Stately thy neck, like David's tower,
With splendor overspread;
Whereon a thousand bucklers hang,
Shields of the mighty dead.

Till the day break and shadows flee,
Myself betake I will
To the spice-mountain's fragrant heights,
And incense-breathing hill.

Thou art beautiful, my love,
There is no spot in thee;
Come then, my bride, from Lebanon,
From Lebanon with me!

Look from Amana's summit, look
While I am by thy side;
Look from the top of Shinar, look
From Hermon, look, my bride!

Love, sister, bride, thy beauty hath
Ravished this heart of mine!
Won it thou hast, and now it is
No longer mine, but thine!

Sister and spouse, how fair thy love,
How better far than mine!
Thy fragrance steals my heart; it is
No longer mine, but thine!

Thy lips are sweetness, and thy words
Are pleasantness each one;
Thy very raiment breatheth forth
The breath of Lebanon.

A garden is my sister-bride,
A paradise shut in;
A guardian spring, a fountain sealed,
With water pure within.

Thine are the pleasant fruits and flowers,
Beneath, around, above;
Spikenard and balm, and myrrh and spice,
A paradise of love.

Thine are the springs, which freshly o'er
A thousand gardens run,
The well of living waters Thou,
And streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind; come, thou south,
Upon my garden blow!
So shall the happy fragrance out
From all its spices flow.

Then forth through all His Paradise,
Let my beloved rove,
To breathe the gladness of its air
And eat His fruits of love.





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