Solomon to Sheba
Solomon to Sheba - meaning Summary
Love as Limiting Circle
A brief dramatic exchange between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba explores how love constrains and defines experience. Each speaker uses the recurring image of a pound or a circle—an old horse going round—to argue whether their conversation and learning have merely circled a single theme or whether love itself makes existence limited yet complete. The poem balances witty rivalry, mutual admiration, and the paradox that love both narrows and unifies life.
Read Complete AnalysesSang 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 a old horse in a pound.' To Solomon sang Sheba, Plated 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.'
Feel free to be first to leave comment.