8

  1Oh, that you were like my brother,
   Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
   If I should find you outside,
   I would kiss you;
   I would not be despised.
   2I would lead you and bring you
   Into the house of my mother,
   She who used to instruct me.
   I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,
   Of the juice of my pomegranate.

(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)

  3His left hand is under my head,
   And his right hand embraces me.
   4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
   Do not stir up nor awaken love
   Until it pleases.

Love Renewed in Lebanon

A Relative

  5Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
   Leaning upon her beloved?
  I awakened you under the apple tree.
   There your mother brought you forth;
   There she who bore you brought you forth.

The Shulamite to Her Beloved

  6Set me as a seal upon your heart,
   As a seal upon your arm;
   For love is as strong as death,
   Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
   Its flames are flames of fire,
   A most vehement flame.
  7Many waters cannot quench love,
   Nor can the floods drown it.
   If a man would give for love
   All the wealth of his house,
   It would be utterly despised.

The Shulamite’s Brothers

  8We have a little sister,
   And she has no breasts.
   What shall we do for our sister
   In the day when she is spoken for?
   9If she is a wall,
   We will build upon her
   A battlement of silver;
   And if she is a door,
   We will enclose her
   With boards of cedar.

The Shulamite

  10I am a wall,
   And my breasts like towers;
   Then I became in his eyes
   As one who found peace.
   11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
   He leased the vineyard to keepers;
   Everyone was to bring for its fruit
   A thousand silver coins.

(To Solomon)

  12My own vineyard is before me.
   You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
   And those who tend its fruit two hundred.

The Beloved

  13You who dwell in the gardens,
   The companions listen for your voice—
   Let me hear it!

The Shulamite

  14Make haste, my beloved,
   And be like a gazelle
   Or a young stag
   On the mountains of spices.