The following poem draws its inspiration from Song of Songs 7:1-2

"Turn back, turn back, O maid of Shulem! Turn back, turn back, That we may gaze upon you. 'Why will you gaze at the Shulammite in the Mahanaim dance?' How lovely are your feet in sandals, O daughter of nobles! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, The work of a master's hand.  (JPS translation)

 


Shulamit
(Song of Songs)
Gustave Moreau
(1826-1898)
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Day and night she dances,
between the suns
she dreams

By day she is the moon
turning
on the underside of earth

At night she is the windmill
waving
above the city walls.

Dusk, she is
Shulamit

As she turns
the warriors chant her praises,
her thighs spin like jugs
on the potter's wheel,
her belly is round
with promise

Everywhere she moves
she captures
kings in the moats
of her eyes,
worlds in the locks
of her hair

Day and night she dances,
between the suns
she dreams


sources
footnotesFrom: Howard Schwartz and Anthony Rudolf, eds., Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets -- An International Anthology (New York: Morrow/Avon, 1980).
author

footnotesPoet, translator, and Judaic scholar, Marcia Falk is the author of the highly acclaimed The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival. Her Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation (Harper San Francisco, 1990) won international acclaim.

Clothbound copies of Marcia Falk's Book of Blessings are available at a quantity discount from the author. The Spectacular Difference, a volume of her translations of the poet Zelda, will be published by Hebrew Union College Press in 2003.

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