Sol 5.6

  1. A dove brought youth back to my mind, after youth had passed away—

    a dove in a grove, calling to her mate.

  2. His cheek and neck are sleek;

    his neck wears an ornament made to cling forever.

  3. God clothed him with it on the day Noah called him,

    a necklace that needs no thread to string it.

  4. One forenoon, as he climbed, there was fated against him

    among the branches a swooping hawk.

  5. The hawk tore through his leafy screen with blood-steeped talons

    that, through him, show death to creatures whose hour has come.

  6. You see the foraging birds huddled for protection,

    wary of him, taking refuge deep in the thicket.

  7. She called him, but he did not answer; she wept for him in grief.

    Her longing in turn stirred paired gray doves.

  8. It was as though the grove, when they poured out their cries within it,

    were mourning women beating themselves for him, blow upon blow.

  9. That stirred longing within me, until

    I wept, though I understood not a word she said.

Sol 5.6