BELOVED. 8. If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go forth in the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. 9. I compare thee, O my love, To my chariot-steed from Pharaoh. 10. Thy cheeks are beautiful with rows of jewels: Thy neck with strings of pearls, 11. Gold chains will we make for thee, Adorned with studs of silver. SPOUSE. 12. While the king sitteth in the circle of his friends, 13. An amulet of myrrh is my beloved to me, BELOVED. 15. Behold, thou art beautiful, my love, Behold, thou art beautiful; thine eyes are doves. SPOUSE. 16. Behold, thou art beautiful, my beloved, yea attractive; And the green, flowery turf is our place of repose. 17. The roof of our summer-house is cedars, Our carved ceiling firs. CHAPTER II. 1. I am the rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. BELOVED. 2. As a lily among the thorns, So is my love among the daughters. SPOUSE. 3. As a citron tree among trees of the forest, And his fruit is sweet to my taste. 5. Revive me with cordials, Refresh me with citrons, 6. His left hand is under my head, And his right hand doth embrace me: 7. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles and by the hinds of the field, That ye rouse not and disturb not My love, till he please. 8. Hark! my beloved: behold, there he comes Leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9. My beloved is like a gazelle, or a beauteous fawn. See! he is standing behind our wall; He is looking in through the window; He is throwing sparkling glances from behind the lattice. 10. My beloved begins to speak, and says to me; Arise, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away. 11. For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. 12. The flowers appear on the earth, The time of singing of birds has come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. 13. The fig-tree is distilling aromatic juice into its green figs; And the vines in blossom are sending forth fragrance: Arise, come, my companion, my beautiful one, come away. 14. O my dove, in refuges of the rock, In a hiding-place of the precipice, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance lovely. 15. Take for us the foxes, The little foxes which destroy the vines; 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his; 17. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, Return my beloved, Like a gazelle, or a beauteous fawn, Over the craggy mountains. CHAPTER III. 1. On my couch, in the night, I seek him whom my soul loveth, I seek him but find him not. 2. I will arise now, and I will go about in the city; In the streets and in the public squares, I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I seek him and I find him not. 3. The watchmen who go around in the city found me; "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" 4. Hardly had I passed them, When I found him whom my soul loveth. I laid hold on him and would not let him go, 5. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, My love, till he please. DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM. 6. Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Like pillars of smoke, Surrounded with the perfume of myrrh, and frankin cense, And all kinds of aromatic dust from the perfumer? 7. Lo, it is the palanquin of Solomon: Around it are threescore valiant men, The most valiant of Israel; 8. All of them with sword in hand, experienced in war, Each with his sword girded on, against peril in the night. 9. A palanquin Solomon the king made for himself Of the wood of Lebanon: 10. Its pillars he made of silver, Its railing of gold, its seat purple, The midst of it being tesselated with love, For the daughters of Jerusalem. 11. Go forth, ye daughters of Zion, And behold king Solomon, With the crown with which his mother crowned him On the day of his espousals, On the day of gladness of his heart. CHAPTER IV. BELOVED. 1. Behold thou art beautiful, my companion, thou art beautiful: Doves are thine eyes within thy locks; Thy hair is as a flock of goats Which lie along downwards from mount Gilead. 2. Thy teeth as a flock of the same size, Which come up from the washing-pool, All of them bearing twins, And none of them without its young. 3. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; Are thy cheeks within thy tresses. 4. Thy neck is like the tower of David Built for an armory; A thousand shields are hanging on it, 5. Thy two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle, feeding among the lilies. 6. Until the day break and the shadows flee away, I will betake me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. 7. Thou art all beautiful, my companion; And no spot is there in thee. 8. 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 dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister-spouse, Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one fold of thy necklace. 10. How beautifully delightful is thy love, my sister-spouse; How much more delicious is thy love than wine, And the fragrance of thy perfumes than all spices. 11. Thy lips drop as the honey-comb, my spouse: Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the fragrance of thy garments is as the fragrance of Lebanon. 12. A garden enclosed is my sister-spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13. Thy productions are a paradise of pomegranates, With delicious fruits, cypresses with spikenards, 14. Spikenard and crocus, calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes with all chief spices; 15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon. |