Song of Solomon, 5
1. LOVER: I come into my garden, my sister, my promised bride, I pick my myrrh and balsam, I eat my honey and my honeycomb, I drink my wine and my milk. POET: Eat, friends, and drink, drink deep, my dearest friends.
1. I come to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink: drink deeply, O lovers!
2. BELOVED: I sleep, but my heart is awake. I hear my love knocking. 'Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my hair with the drops of night.'
2. I slept, but my heart was awake. Hark! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
3. -'I have taken off my tunic, am I to put it on again? I have washed my feet, am I to dirty them again?'
3. I had put off my garment, how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet, how could I soil them?
4. My love thrust his hand through the hole in the door; I trembled to the core of my being.
4. My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
5. Then I got up to open to my love, myrrh ran off my hands, pure myrrh off my fingers, on to the handle of the bolt.
5. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.
6. I opened to my love, but he had turned and gone. My soul failed at his flight, I sought but could not find him, I called, but he did not answer.
6. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
7. The watchmen met me, those who go on their rounds in the city. They beat me, they wounded me, they took my cloak away from me: those guardians of the ramparts!
7. The watchmen found me, as they went about in the city; they beat me, they wounded me, they took away my mantle, those watchmen of the walls.
8. I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you should find my love, what are you to tell him? -That I am sick with love!
8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.
9. CHORUS: What makes your lover better than other lovers, O loveliest of women? What makes your lover better than other lovers, to put us under such an oath?
9. What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?
10. BELOVED: My love is fresh and ruddy, to be known among ten thousand.
10. My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
11. His head is golden, purest gold, his locks are palm fronds and black as the raven.
11. His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12. His eyes are like doves beside the water-courses, bathing themselves in milk, perching on a fountain-rim.
12. His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, bathed in milk, fitly set.
13. His cheeks are beds of spices, banks sweetly scented. His lips are lilies, distilling pure myrrh.
13. His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.
14. His hands are golden, rounded, set with jewels of Tarshish. His belly a block of ivory covered with sapphires.
14. His arms are rounded gold, set with jewels. His body is ivory work, encrusted with sapphires.
15. His legs are alabaster columns set in sockets of pure gold. His appearance is that of Lebanon, unrivalled as the cedars.
15. His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
16. His conversation is sweetness itself, he is altogether lovable. Such is my love, such is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
16. His speech is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
