I am dark, but lovely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Look not upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has darkened me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept.

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.

It was but a little after I passed by them, when I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.