[2] I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” [3] I have taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again? [4] My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. [5] I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. [6] I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. [7] The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls! [8] Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.
