Cantar de los Cantares 2

¹ I am a narcissus of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. ² As the lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters.

³ As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons: In his shadow have I rapture and sit down; And his fruit is sweet to my taste. ⁴ He hath brought me to the house of wine, And his banner over me is love. ⁵ Sustain ye me with raisin-cakes, Refresh me with apples; For I am sick of love. ⁶ His left hand is under my head, And his right hand doth embrace me. ⁷ I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

⁸ The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills. ⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart. Behold, he standeth behind our wall, He looketh in through the windows, Glancing through the lattice. ¹⁰ My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹¹ For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over, it is gone: ¹² The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; ¹³ The fig-tree melloweth her winter figs, And the vines in bloom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!

¹⁴ My dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the precipice, Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. ¹⁵ Take us the foxes, The little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in bloom. ¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his; He feedeth his flock among the lilies, ¹⁷ Until the day dawn, and the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved: be thou like a gazelle or a young hart, Upon the mountains of Bether.