Solomon To Sheba

by William Butler Yeats

　　

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Sang Solomon to Sheba, And kissed her dusky face, ‘All day long from mid-day We have talked in the one place, All day long from shadowless noon We have gone round and round In the narrow theme of love Like an old horse in a pound.’ To Solomon sang Sheba, Planted on his knees, ‘If you had broached a matter That might the learned please, You had before the sun had thrown Our shadows on the ground Discovered that my thoughts, not it, Are but a narrow pound.’ Said Solomon to Sheba, And kissed her Arab eyes, ‘There’s not a man or woman Born under the skies Dare match in learning with us two, And all day long we have found There’s not a thing but love can make The world a narrow pound.’

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