[1] I have come to my garden-my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with caresses! [2] I was sleeping, but my heart was awake. A sound! My love was knocking! Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is drenched with dew, my hair with droplets of the night. [3] I have taken off my clothing. How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty? [4] My love thrust his hand through the opening, and my feelings were stirred for him. [5] I rose to open for my love. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. [6] I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. My heart sank because he had left. I sought him, but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer. [7] The guards who go about the city found me. They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak from me- the guardians of the walls. [8] Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, if you find my love, tell him that I am lovesick. [9] What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women? What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge? [10] My love is fit and strong, notable among ten thousand. [11] His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy and black as a raven. [12] His eyes are like doves beside flowing streams, washed in milk and set like jewels. [13] His cheeks are like beds of spice, mounds of perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. [14] His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel covered with lapis lazuli. [15] His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. [16] His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.
