1I am a rose on the plain of Sharon, a lily in the valleys.
He Speaks
2My darling, among other women, you are like a lily among thorns!
She Speaks
3My lover, among other men, you are an apple tree among the wild trees in the forest!
She Speaks to the Women
I enjoy sitting in my lover’s shadow; his fruit is so sweet to my taste.
4My lover took me to the wine house; his intent toward me was love.
5Strengthen me with raisins; refresh me with apples, because I am weak with love.
6My lover’s left arm is under my head, and his right arm holds me.
7Women of Jerusalem, promise me by the gazelles and wild deer, don’t awaken love, don’t arouse love, until I am ready.
She Speaks Again
8I hear my lover’s voice. Here it comes, jumping over the mountains, skipping over the hills.
9My lover is like a gazelle or a young deer. Look at him standing behind our wall, staring out the window, looking through the lattice.
10My lover speaks to me, “Get up, my darling, my beautiful one. Let’s go away!
11Look, winter is past, the rains have come and gone.
12The flowers are blooming in the fields. It’s time to sing! Listen, the doves have returned.
13Young figs are growing on the fig trees. Smell the vines in bloom. Get up, my darling, my beautiful one. Let’s go away!”
He Speaks
14My dove, hiding in the caves high on the cliff, hidden here on the mountain, let me see you, let me hear your voice. Your voice is so pleasant, and you are so beautiful!
She Speaks to the Women
15Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. Our vineyard is now in bloom.
16My lover is mine, and I am his! My lover feeds among the lilies,
17while the day breathes its last breath and the shadows run away. Turn, my lover, be like a gazelle or a young deer on the cleft mountains!
