CHAPTER 2

                ¹I am the rose of Sharon,

                    the lily of the valley.

                ²—Like a lily among the thorns

                    so is my friend among the young women.

                ³—Like a quince tree among the trees of the forest

                    so is my lover among the young men.

                In its shade I delighted to sit

                    and its fruit was sweet to my taste

                ⁴He has brought me to the house of wine

                    and his banner over me is love.

                ⁵Stay me up with raisin cakes,

                    cushion me with quinces,

                          for I am in a swoon of love.

                ⁶His left hand beneath my head,

                    his right hand embracing me.

                ⁷I make you swear, O daughters of Jerusalem

                    by the deer or the gazelles of the field,

                that you shall not rouse not stir love

                    until it pleases.

                ⁸Hark! Oh, my lover is coming,

                    bounding over the mountains,

                          leaping over the hills.

                ⁹My lover is like a deer

                    or like a stag.

                Oh, he stands behind our wall

                    peering through the windows,

                          peeping through the crannies.

                ¹⁰My lover spoke out and said to me:

                    “Arise my friend, my fair one, go.

                ¹¹For, look, the winter has passed

                    the rain has gone away.

                ¹²Buds can be seen in the land,

                    the nightingale’s season has come

                          and the turtledove’s voice is heard in our land.

                ¹³The fig tree has put forth its green fruit

                    and the vines in blossom waft fragrance.

                Arise and go, my friend,

                    my fair one, go forth.”

                ¹⁴My dove in the rock’s crevices,

                    in the hollow of the cliff,

                show me how you look,

                    let me hear your voice,

                for your voice is sweet

                    and your look desirable.

                ¹⁵Seize us the foxes,

                    the little foxes,

                despoiling the vineyards,

                    but our vineyards are in bloom.

                ¹⁶My lover is mine and I am his,

                    who grazes among the lilies.

                ¹⁷Until morning’s breeze blows

                    and the shadows flee,

                turn round, be like a deer, my love,

                    or like a gazelle

                          on the cloven mountains.