I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
As the lily among
thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to
the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
His left hand is under my
head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
I charge you, O ye daughters of
Jerusalem, by the roes,
and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up,
nor wake my love, till he please.
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold,
he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself
through the lattice.
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love,
my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over
and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds
is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree
putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the
stairs, let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy
voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Take us the foxes, the little foxes,
that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
Until the
day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved,
and be thou like a
roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.