2I am a rose^* of Sharon,
   a lily of the valleys.

²As a lily among brambles,
   so is my love among maidens.

³As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
   so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
   and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
⁴He brought me to the banqueting house,
   and his intention towards me was love.
⁵Sustain me with raisins,
   refresh me with apples;
   for I am faint with love.
⁶O that his left hand were under my head,
   and that his right hand embraced me!
⁷I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
   by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love
   until it is ready!

Springtime Rhapsody

⁸The voice of my beloved!
   Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
   bounding over the hills.
⁹My beloved is like a gazelle
   or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
   behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
   looking through the lattice.
¹⁰My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;
¹¹for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone.
¹²The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
   is heard in our land.
¹³The fig tree puts forth its figs,
   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away.
¹⁴O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
   in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
   let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
   and your face is lovely.
¹⁵Catch us the foxes,
   the little foxes,
that ruin the vineyards—
   for our vineyards are in blossom.’

¹⁶My beloved is mine and I am his;
   he pastures his flock among the lilies.
¹⁷Until the day breathes
   and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
   or a young stag on the cleft mountains.^*

8O that you were like a brother to me,
   who nursed at my mother’s breast!
If I met you outside, I would kiss you,
   and no one would despise me.
²I would lead you and bring you
   into the house of my mother,
   and into the chamber of the one who bore me.^*
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
   the juice of my pomegranates.
³O that his left hand were under my head,
   and that his right hand embraced me!
⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
   do not stir up or awaken love
   until it is ready!

Homecoming

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
   leaning upon her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labour with you;
   there she who bore you was in labour.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart,
   as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
   passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
   a raging flame.
⁷Many waters cannot quench love,
   neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
   all the wealth of one’s house,
   it would be utterly scorned.

⁸We have a little sister,
   and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister,
   on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹If she is a wall,
   we will build upon her a battlement of silver;
but if she is a door,
   we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
¹⁰I was a wall,
   and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
   as one who brings^* peace.
¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
   he entrusted the vineyard to keepers;
   each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
¹²My vineyard, my very own, is for myself;
   you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
   and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens,
   my companions are listening for your voice;
   let me hear it.

¹⁴Make haste, my beloved,
   and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
   upon the mountains of spices!