"The Carpenter"

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm" (Song of Songs 8:6)

The carpenter—he loved the preacher’s oldest girl,

And watched her with all-quiet eyes from woody-smelling 

Pews he’d built. “His jacket’s dipped in dust of yellowing 

Pines,” she said. He wooed her, carrying wreaths of pearl- 

Pink blooms and baskets of sheep’s sharpest cheese—his land’s. 

She loved the dirt-blacked nails on Bible-carrying hands.

—

They sat by river’s side the day she wore his ring.

He said, “Your eyes like gentle doves; your throat like tow’r

Of David, love; your mouth a crimson-threaded flower;

You, a garden—mine.” She said, “Like gold, my king,

Your hands. Your eyes, they’re milk-washed; your prayers—they bend

My heart. Seal me on your arm, O shepherd, friend.”