[1] "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk." "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." [2] "I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.' [3] I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? [4] My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him. [5] I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. [6] I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spoke; I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. [7] The watchmen that went about the city found me. They smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. [8] I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick with love." [9] "What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?" [10] "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. [11] His head is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. [12] His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. [13] His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweetsmelling myrrh. [14] His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. [15] His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. [16] His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."
