Longing for Her Beloved 1Bride to Groom: Who will give you to me as my brother, feeding from the breasts of my mother, so that I may discover you outside, and may kiss you, and so that now no one may despise me? 2I will take hold of you and lead you into my mother’s house. There you will teach me, and I will give you a cup of spiced wine, and of new wine from my pomegranates. 3His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. 4Groom to Chorus: I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, not to disturb or awaken the beloved, until she wills.
5Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?
6Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm. For love is strong, like death, and envy is enduring, like hell: their lamps are made of fire and flames.
7A multitude of waters cannot extinguish love, nor can a river overwhelm it. If a man were to give all the substance of his house in exchange for love, he would despise it as nothing.
8Chorus: Our sister is little and has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is called upon?
9If she is a wall, let us build a rampart of silver upon it. If she is a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.
10Bride to Chorus: I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers, since, in his presence, I have become like one who has discovered peace.
11The peaceful one had a vineyard, in that which held the peoples. He handed it on to the caretakers; a man brought, in exchange for its fruit, a thousand pieces of silver.
12Groom: My vineyard is before me. The thousand is for your peacefulness, and two hundred is for those who care for its fruit.
13Bride to Groom: Your friends are attentive to those who have been dwelling in the gardens. Cause me to heed your voice.
14Flee away, my beloved, and become like the doe and the young stag upon the mountains of aromatic plants. |
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