Aholibah

	In the beginning God made thee
	A woman well to look upon,
	Thy tender body as a tree
	Whereon cool wind hath always blown
	Till the clean branches be well grown.
	There was none like thee in the land;
	The girls that were thy bondwomen
	Did bind thee with a purple band
	Upon thy forehead, that all men
10	Should know thee for God’s handmaiden.
	Strange raiment clad thee like a bride,
	With silk to wear on hands and feet
	And plates of gold on either side:
	Wine made thee glad, and thou didst eat
	Honey, and choice of pleasant meat.
	And fishers in the middle sea
	Did get thee sea-fish and sea-weeds
	In colour like the robes on thee;
	And curious work of plaited reeds,
20	And wools wherein live purple bleeds.
	And round the edges of thy cup
	Men wrought thee marvels out of gold,
	Strong snakes with lean throats lifted up,
	Large eyes whereon the brows had hold,
	And scaly things their slime kept cold.
	For thee they blew soft wind in flutes
	And ground sweet roots for cunning scent;
	Made slow because of many lutes,
	The wind among thy chambers went
30	Wherein no light was violent.
	God called thy name Aholibah,
	His tabernacle being in thee,
	A witness through waste Asia;
	Thou wert a tent sewn cunningly
	With gold and colours of the sea.
	God gave thee gracious ministers
	And all their work who plait and weave:
	The cunning of embroiderers
	That sew the pillow to the sleeve,
40	And likeness of all things that live.
	Thy garments upon thee were fair
	With scarlet and with yellow thread;
	Also the weaving of thine hair
	Was as fine gold upon thy head,
	And thy silk shoes were sewn with red.
	All sweet things he bade sift, and ground
	As a man grindeth wheat in mills
	With strong wheels alway going round;
	He gave thee corn, and grass that fills
50	The cattle on a thousand hills.
	The wine of many seasons fed
	Thy mouth, and made it fair and clean;
	Sweet oil was poured out on thy head
	And ran down like cool rain between
	The strait close locks it melted in.
	The strong men and the captains knew
	Thy chambers wrought and fashioned
	With gold and covering of blue,
	And the blue raiment of thine head
60	Who satest on a stately bed.
	All these had on their garments wrought
	The shape of beasts and creeping things,
	The body that availeth not,
	Flat backs of worms and veinèd wings,
	And the lewd bulk that sleeps and stings.
	Also the chosen of the years,
	The multitude being at ease,
	With sackbuts and with dulcimers
	And noise of shawms and psalteries
70	Made mirth within the ears of these.
	But as a common woman doth,
	Thou didst think evil and devise;
	The sweet smell of thy breast and mouth
	Thou madest as the harlot’s wise,
	And there was painting on thine eyes.
	Yea, in the woven guest-chamber
	And by the painted passages
	Where the strange gracious paintings were,
	State upon state of companies,
80	There came on thee the lust of these.
	Because of shapes on either wall
	Sea-coloured from some rare blue shell
	At many a Tyrian interval,
	Horsemen on horses, girdled well,
	Delicate and desirable,
	Thou saidest: I am sick of love:
	Stay me with flagons, comfort me
	With apples for my pain thereof
	Till my hands gather in his tree
90	That fruit wherein my lips would be.
	Yea, saidest thou, I will go up
	When there is no more shade than one
	May cover with a hollow cup,
	And make my bed against the sun
	Till my blood’s violence be done.
	Thy mouth was leant upon the wall
	Against the painted mouth, thy chin
	Touched the hair’s painted curve and fall;
	Thy deep throat, fallen lax and thin,
100	Worked as the blood’s beat worked therein.
	Therefore, O thou Aholibah,
	God is not glad because of thee;
	And thy fine gold shall pass away
	Like those fair coins of ore that be
	Washed over by the middle sea.
	Then will one make thy body bare
	To strip it of all gracious things,
	And pluck the cover from thine hair,
	And break the gift of many kings,
110	Thy wrist-rings and thine ankle-rings.
	Likewise the man whose body joins
	To thy smooth body, as was said,
	Who hath a girdle on his loins
	And dyed attire upon his head –
	The same who, seeing, worshipped,
	Because thy face was like the face
	Of a clean maiden that smells sweet,
	Because thy gait was as the pace
	Of one that opens not her feet
120	And is not heard within the street –
	Even he, O thou Aholibah,
	Made separate from thy desire,
	Shall cut thy nose and ears away
	And bruise thee for thy body’s hire
	And burn the residue with fire.
	Then shall the heathen people say,
	The multitude being at ease;
	Lo, this is that Aholibah
	Whose name was blown among strange seas,
130	Grown old with soft adulteries.
	Also her bed was made of green,
	Her windows beautiful for glass
	That she had made her bed between:
	Yea, for pure lust her body was
	Made like white summer-coloured grass.
	Her raiment was a strong man’s spoil;
	Upon a table by a bed
	She set mine incense and mine oil
	To be the beauty of her head
140	In chambers walled about with red.
	Also between the walls she had
	Fair faces of strong men portrayed;
	All girded round the loins, and clad
	With several cloths of woven braid
	And garments marvellously made.
	Therefore the wrath of God shall be
	Set as a watch upon her way;
	And whoso findeth by the sea
	Blown dust of bones will hardly say
150	If this were that Aholibah.