t must have been to one whose
body was white as Fenzile's, to eyes as emerald, to velvety lips, to
slim hands with orange-tinted finger nails that he sang. Surely the
Shulamite was not fairer than the Fenzile, daughter of Hamadj, a Druse
emir!

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!
The joints of thy thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a cunning workman.
Thy navel is like a round goblet,
Which wanteth not liquor:
Thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
Thy neck is like a tower of ivory:
Thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon,
By the gate of Bath-rabbim:
Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,
And the hair of thine head like purple;
The king is held in the galleries.
How fair and pleasant art thou,
O love, for delights!
This thy stature is like to a palm tree.
And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree.
I will take hold of the boughs thereof:
Now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine,
And the smell of thy nose like apples;
And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved,
That goeth down sweetly,
Causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak....

Section 9

Where before he had made his mistake with women was allowing them to
become spiritually important. His mother had been important; he had
suffered from the sense of her lack of heart to him. His wife had been
important; they hadn't understood life together, he made no attempt
to.... They were so young.... And Claire-Anne had become spiritually
important to him. So that when she was gone, it was hell.

If he had treated his mother casually, depending on his uncles, it would
have been all right. If he had discerned--and he had discerned, though
he knew not how to act--that his wife and he would forever be
inharmonious, it would not have been a scar on his youth. If he had gone
for instance to Alan Donn and said, "Uncle Alan, I'm afeared there's a
mistake been made. And what are we going to do about this woman o'
Louth?" And Alan would have said: "I ken't well you were a damned young
fool. Ah, well, gang off aboard your boatie, and I'll see to her." Alan
would have ditched her and her mother mercilessly, and there would have
been no scar on his youth....

And Claire-Anne,