Do not gaze at me because I am black, because the sun has stared [at] me. The sons of my mother were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, [but] my own "vineyard" I did not keep.

On my bed in the night, I sought him whom my {heart} loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my {heart} loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

The watchmen who go about the city found me. [I said], Did ye see him whom my soul loves?

I was but a little way from them, when I came face to face with him who is the love of my soul. I took him by the hands, and did not let him go, till I had taken him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who gave me birth.

I opened myself to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone; my heart sank when he turned away. I sought him, but I did not find him; I called him, but he did not answer me.

Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women? Where did your beloved turn, so we may look for him with you?

I did not know my {heart} set me [in] a chariot of my princely people.

Thy stature is like a date tree, and thy breasts like the grapes.

I said, I will climb up the date tree, and take hold of his branches. Thy breasts also shall be as the vine grapes, the smell of thy nostrils like the smell of apples,

Who is this coming from the wilderness, Hasting herself for her beloved? Under the citron-tree I have waked thee, There did thy mother pledge thee, There she gave a pledge that bare thee.

(The Shulammite Bride)“Under the apple tree I awakened you [to my love];
There your mother was in labor with you,
There she was in labor and gave you birth.

“Put me like a seal on your heart,
Like a seal on your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy is as severe and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead).
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
[A most vehement flame] the very flame of the Lord!

SHEI, was a wall, and, my breasts, like towers, - Then, became I, in his eyes, one who did indeed find good content.