Solomon

1I have come in to my garden, my sister-spouse, I have plucked my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved ones!

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

2I am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! ‘Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled [with] dew, My locks [with] drops of the night.’

3I have put off my coat, how do I put it on? I have washed my feet, how do I defile them?

4My beloved sent his hand from the net-work, And my bowels were moved for him.

5I rose to open to my beloved, And my hands dropped myrrh, Yea, my fingers flowing myrrh, On the handles of the lock.

6I opened to my beloved, But my beloved withdrew — he passed on, My soul went forth when he spake, I sought him, and found him not. I called him, and he answered me not.

7The watchmen who go round about the city, Found me, smote me, wounded me, Keepers of the walls lifted up my veil from off me.

8I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved — What do ye tell him? that I [am] sick with love!

The Friends

9What [is] thy beloved above [any] beloved, O fair among women? What [is] thy beloved above [any] beloved, That thus thou hast adjured us?

Admiration by the Bride

10My beloved [is] clear and ruddy, Conspicuous above a myriad!

11His head [is] pure gold — fine gold, His locks flowing, dark as a raven,

12His eyes as doves by streams of water, Washing in milk, sitting in fulness.

13His cheeks as a bed of the spice, towers of perfumes, His lips [are] lilies, dropping flowing myrrh,

14His hands rings of gold, set with beryl, His heart bright ivory, covered with sapphires,

15His limbs pillars of marble, Founded on sockets of fine gold, His appearance as Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

16His mouth is sweetness — and all of him desirable, This [is] my beloved, and this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!