For the sixth show, December 1998, we did a reading from some poems and stories. We started the a reading of an edited passage from the King James version of the Bible.

{Lips} Kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

[Wine jug] Draw me, we will run after thee; we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine.

{Sun and grapes} I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not on me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me; my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have I not kept.

{Sheep} Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

[Tents] If thou know not, O though fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents.

.

{Bundle} A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of Engedi.

[Dove] Behold thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

{Forest} Behold thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant. Also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafter of fir.

*

{Rose} I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.

[Lily] As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

{Apple} As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my love, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

[Apple and flagon] Stay me with flagons and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love.

{Deer} His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that you wake not my love till he pleases.

*

{Window} The voice of my beloved. Behold he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping among the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the window, showing himself at the lattice. My beloved spoke and said unto me:

[Dove] Rise up my love, my fair one and come away, for lo the winter is past. The rains are over and done. The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

[Grapes] The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise my love, my fair one and come away.

{Rocks} O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me see thy countenance. Let my hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

[Fox] Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.

*

{City wall} By night on my bed I sought, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him; I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

*

(Smoke) Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; three score valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

(Chariot) King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

(Crown) Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

{Icicle} Awake O north wind. Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

{Moon} I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying:

[Shadow] Open to me, my sister, my love, by dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

{Feet} I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his had by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

{Door} I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone; my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

{Wall} The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find by beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

(Lamp) What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

{Raven} My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl;

{Table} his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

(Torch) Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whiter is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee?

(Lilly) My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and gather lilies. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies.

[Dove} There are three score queens and four score concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her and blessed her; yea the queens and the concubines, they praised her.

[Eyes] Return, return O Shulamite, return that we may look upon thee. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love.

{Heart} I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

[Green Field} Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth.

(Pointing hands) Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?

[Fire] Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire.

{Fountain} Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

We also did readings from:

"Sea Fever" by John Masefield and "Horatius" by Thomas Babington

Macaulay, both collected in One Hundred and One Famous Poems,

"The Witch of Coos" by Robert Frost,

Grendel by John Gardiner and

"Silence" by Edgar Allen Poe.