*The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were my little brother, nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw you outside, I could kiss you – surely no one would despise me! *I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house, the one who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.
Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration
*The Beloved about Her Lover: His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me. *The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”
The Awakening of Love
*The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved?*The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.
The Nature of True Love
*The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame. *Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions to buy love, the offer would be utterly despised.
The Brother’s Plan and the Sister’s Reward
*The Beloved’s Brothers: We have a little sister, and as yet she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? *If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will barricade her with boards of cedar. *The Beloved: I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. Then I found favor in his eyes.
Solomon’s Vineyard and the Beloved’s Vineyard
*The Beloved to Her Lover: Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he leased out the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.*My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal alone. The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit.
Epilogue: The Lover’s Request and His Beloved’s Invitation
*The Lover to His Beloved: O you who stay in the gardens, my companions are listening attentively for your voice; let me be the one to hear it! *The Beloved to Her Lover: Make haste, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
