Song of Songs 5

I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

I sleep, but my heart waketh; Hark! my beloved knocketh: ‘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.’

I have put off my coat; How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; How shall I defile them?

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, And my heart was moved for him.

I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with flowing myrrh, Upon the handles of the bar.

I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no 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, O daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? That I am love-sick.’

’What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so adjure us?’

’My beloved is white and ruddy, Pre-eminent above ten thousand.

His head is as the most fine gold, His locks are curled, And black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves Beside the water-brooks; Washed with milk, And fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, As banks of sweet herbs; His lips are as lilies, Dropping with flowing myrrh.

His hands are as rods of gold Set with beryl; His body is as polished ivory Overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, Set upon sockets of fine gold; His aspect is like Lebanon, Excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet; Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.’