{The Ballad of Ballads of Solomon} O that thy mouth would give me a kiss!

(The Shulammite Bride)
“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” [Solomon arrives, she turns to him, saying,]
“For your love is better than wine.

and that because of the good and pleasant savour. Thy name is sweet smelling ointment when it is shed forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.

Draw thou me unto thee; we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his privy chamber: We will be glad and rejoice in thee, we think more of thy love than of wine. They that be righteous love thee.

Marvel not at me that I am so black: For why? The sun hath shined upon me. My mother's children had evil will at me, they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Tell me, thou loved of my soul! Where wilt thou pasture thy flock? Where wilt thou let them recline at noon? For why should I be as one that wrappeth a veil about her, by the flocks of thy companions?

My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts.

“I am the rose [of the plain] of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys [that grows in deep places].”

I wish that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand were embracing me!

HEI adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, - That ye wake not, nor arouse, the dear love until she please! ****

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

BOTHTake ye for us, the foxes, the little foxes that are spoiling the vines, - and, our vines, are all blossom!

SHEMy beloved, is, mine, and, I, am, his, he that pastureth among lilies!

(The Shulammite Bride)“On my bed night after night [I dreamed that] I sought the one
Whom my soul loves;
I sought him but did not find him.

The watchmen that go round in the city, found me, The beloved of my soul, have ye seen?

Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found the beloved of my soul, - I caught him, and would not let him go, until that I had brought him into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

HEI adjure you ye, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, - That ye wake not, nor arouse, the dear love until she please. ****

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant?

Lo, his couch, that is Solomon's, Sixty mighty ones are around it, Of the mighty of Israel,

“All of them handle the sword,
All expert in war;
Each man has his sword at his thigh,
Guarding against the terrors of the night.

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly'shorn, Which are come up from the washing, Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe, Which feed among the lilies.

O that I might go to the mountain of Myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, till the day break, and till the shadows be past away.

The fruits that sprout in thee are like a very Paradise of pomegranates with sweet fruits:

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat his precious fruits.

I was asleep, but my heart waked: 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, My locks with the drops of the night.

so that I stood up to open unto my beloved. My hands dropped with Myrrh, and the Myrrh ran down my fingers upon the lock.

I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
I was crushed that he had left.
I sought him, but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not answer.

The watchmen that go about the city found me, They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.

I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, - If ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? That, sick with love, I am.

DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEMWhat is thy beloved more than any other beloved, thou most beautiful among women? What is thy beloved more than any other beloved, that, thus, thou hast adjured us?

His cheeks are like a garden bed, wherein the Apothecaries plant all manner of sweet things; His lips are like roses that drop sweet smelling Myrrh.

DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEMWhither hath thy beloved, gone, thou most beautiful among women? whither hath thy beloved turned him aside? That we may seek him with thee.

My love is gone down into his garden, unto the sweet smelling beds, that he may refresh himself in the garden, and gather flowers.

I, am, my beloved's, and, my beloved, is mine, he that pastureth among lilies.

Turn away thine eyes from me, for, they, have excited me, - Thy hair, is like a flock of goats, that are reclining on the sides of Mount Gilead:

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that be clipped, which go out of the washing place: where every one beareth two twins, and not one unfruitful among them.

One alone, is my dove, my perfect one, one alone, was she to her mother, Pure, was she to her that bare her, - The daughters, have seen her, and pronounced her happy, Queens and concubines, and they have praised her.

THEYWho is this, that looketh forth like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, pure as the sun, majestic as bannered hosts?

THEYReturn, return, O Shulamite, Return, return, that we may look on thee! SHEWhat would ye look on in the Shulamite? THEYAs it were the dance of a double camp --

Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks mixed wine. Your abdomen is a bundle of wheat, enclosed by lilies.

Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe.

That head that standeth upon thee is like Carmel; the hair of thy head is like the king's purple folden up in plates.

“Your stature is like that of a palm tree
And your breasts like its clusters [of dates].

“I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree;
I will grasp its branches.
Let your breasts be like clusters of the grapevine,
And the fragrance of your breath like apples,

And thy mouth like the best wine, That goeth down smoothly for my beloved, Gliding through the lips of those that are asleep.

The mandrakes give off their fragrance, and over our doors are all the choice fruits, both old and new, that I've stored up for you, my beloved.

Oh that thou hadst been a very brother to me, who had sucked the breasts of my own mother, - Had I found thee without, I had kissed thee, Yea, folk would not have despised me!

if I took thee, and brought thee into my mother's house - that thou mightest teach me, and that I might give thee drink of spiced wine and of the sweet sap of my pomegranates.

“Let his left hand be under my head
And his right hand embrace me.”

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please.

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee: There thy mother was in travail with thee, There was she in travail that brought thee forth.

Set me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion as intense as Sheol. The flames of love are flames of fire, a blaze that comes from the LORD.

so that many waters are not able to quench love, neither may the streams drown it. Yea, if a man would give all the good of his house for love, he should count it nothing.

We have a little sister, and breasts she hath not, What do we do for our sister, In the day that it is told of her?

I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; this vineyard delivered he unto the keepers, that every one for the fruit thereof should give him a thousand pieces of silver.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand, And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, The companions hearken for thy voice: Cause me to hear it.