Draw me after you, let us make haste. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.

I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!

Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture your kids beside the shepherds' tents.
Colloquy of Bridegroom, Friends, and Bride

I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.

Your cheeks are comely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.

We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.

While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.

My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts.

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

Ah, you are beautiful, my love; ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.

Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely. Our couch is green;

the beams of our house are cedar, our rafters are pine.

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

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

As 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.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love.

Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love.

O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!

I 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

The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.

My 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.

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;

for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The 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.

O 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.

Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in blossom.”

My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains.

The Bride's Beauty Extolled

How beautiful you are, my love, how very beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved.

Your lips are like a crimson thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

Your neck is like the tower of David, built in courses; on it hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.

Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

Your lips distill nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.

Your channel is an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,

nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices—

a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.
Another Dream

I slept, but my heart was awake. Listen! my beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”

I had put off my garment; how could I put it on again? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?

My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him.

I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but did not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer.

Making their rounds in the city the sentinels found me; they beat me, they wounded me, they took away my mantle, those sentinels of the walls.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him this: I am faint with love.
Colloquy of Friends and Bride

What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?

My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.

His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, bathed in milk, fitly set.

His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.

His arms are rounded gold, set with jewels. His body is ivory work, encrusted with sapphires.

His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

His speech is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Expressions of Praise

How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.

Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

How fair and pleasant you are, O loved one, delectable maiden!

You are stately as a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.

I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its branches. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,

and your kisses like the best wine that goes down smoothly, gliding over lips and teeth.

I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields, and lodge in the villages;

let us go out early to the vineyards, and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.