The Hireling Shepherd

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

Is Edward Fitzgerald’s rather romanticised version of the quatrain from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám a suitable accompaniment to Holman Hunt’s painting. I think both describe lust rather than romance so I have put them together.