By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,

That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all powders of the merchants?
Behold his bed, which is Solomon's;
Threescore 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.

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 it of purple ;
The midst thereof being paved with love,

For the daughters of Jerusalem.

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.

53

QUAM PULCHRA

BEHOLD, thou art fair, my love;

Behold, thou art fair;

Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks :

Thy hair is as a flock of goats,

That appear from mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn,

Which came up from the washing;

Whereof every one bears twins,

And none is barren among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,

And thy speech is comely:

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate

Within thy locks.

Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armoury, Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,

All shields of mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins,
Which feed among the lilies.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,

I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,

And to the hill of frankincense.

Thou art all fair, my love;

There is no spot in thee.

Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,

With me from Lebanon:

Look from the top of Amana,

From the top of Shenir and Hermon,

From the lions' dens,

From the mountains of the leopards.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse;
Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes,
With one chain of thy neck.

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!

How much better is thy love than wine!

And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb :

Honey and milk are under thy tongue;

And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse;

A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; Camphire with spikenard;

Spikenard and saffron ;

Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;

Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

A fountain of gardens,

A well of living waters,

And streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south!

Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eat his pleasant fruits.

54

VENI IN HORTUM

I AM come into my garden, my sister, my spouse:

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk:

Eat, O friends;

Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!

sleep, but my heart waketh:

It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying :-
'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled:
For my head is filled with dew,

And my locks with the drops of the night.'

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 hand 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.

I opened to my beloved;

But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone :

My soul failed when he spake :

I sought him, but I could not find him ;

I called him, but he gave me no answer.

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 my beloved, That ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,

O thou fairest among women?

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so charge us?

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;

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.

55

QUAM PULCHRI

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!
The joints of thy thighs are like jewels,

The work of the hands of a cunning workman:

Thy navel is like a round goblet,

Which wanteth not liquor;

Thy belly is like an heap of wheat

Set about with lilies:

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins:

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory;

Thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath

rabbim ;

Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon,

Which looketh toward Damascus :

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,

And the hair of thine head like purple :

The king is held in the galleries.
How fair and how pleasant art thou,
O love, for delights!

This thy stature is like to a palm-tree,
And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
I said, I will go up to the palm-tree,
I will take hold of the boughs thereof:

Now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine,

And the smell of thy nose like apples;

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved,

That goeth down sweetly,

Causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

I am my beloved's,

And his desire is toward me.

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:

There will I give thee my loves.

The mandrakes give a smell,

And at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

56

LEVATE SIGNUM

LIFT ye up a banner upon the high mountain,
Exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand,
That they may go into the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded my sanctified ones,

I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger,

Even them that rejoice in my highness.

The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people :

A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together:

The lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

They come from a far country, from the end of heaven,

Even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation,

To destroy the whole land.

Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand;

It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore shall all hands be faint,

And every man's heart shall melt,

And they shall be afraid :

Pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them;

They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth:

They shall be amazed one at another;

Their faces shall be as flames.

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,

Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,

To lay the land desolate :

And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give

their light:

The sun shall be darkened in his going forth,

And the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;

And I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,

And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

I will make a man more precious than fine gold;

Even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens,

And the earth shall remove out of her place,

In the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce

anger.

And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man

taketh up