The Woman Speaks Again

2 I am a rose in the Plain of Sharon,

a lily in the valleys.

The Man Speaks Again

2  Among the young women, my darling

is like a lily among thorns!

The Woman Answers

3  Among the young men, my lover

is like an apple tree in the woods!

I enjoy sitting in his shadow;

his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4  He brought me to the banquet room,

and his banner over me is love.

5  Strengthen me with raisins,

and refresh me with apples,

because I am weak with love.

6  My lover’s left hand is under my head,

and his right arm holds me tight.

The Woman Speaks to the Friends

7  Women of Jerusalem, promise me

by the gazelles and the deer

not to awaken

or excite my feelings of love

until it is ready.

The Woman Speaks Again

8  I hear my lover’s voice.

Here he comes jumping across the mountains,

skipping over the hills.

9  My lover is like a gazelle or a young deer.

Look, he stands behind our wall

peeking through the windows,

looking through the blinds.

10  My lover spoke and said to me,

“Get up, my darling;

let’s go away, my beautiful one.

11  Look, the winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

12  Blossoms appear through all the land.

The time has come to sing;

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

13  There are young figs on the fig trees,

and the blossoms on the vines smell sweet.

Get up, my darling;

let’s go away, my beautiful one.”

The Man Speaks

14  My beloved is like a dove hiding in the cracks of the rock,

in the secret places of the cliff.

Show me your face,

and let me hear your voice.

Your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

15  Catch the foxes for us—

the little foxes that ruin the vineyards

while they are in blossom.

The Woman Speaks

16  My lover is mine, and I am his.

He feeds among the lilies

17  until the day dawns

and the shadows disappear.

Turn, my lover.

Be like a gazelle or a young deer

on the mountain valleys.