Canticum Canticorum, 8

1. Quis mihi det te fratrem meum, sugentem ubera matris meae, ut inveniam te foris et deosculer te, et iam me nemo despiciat?

1. O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother's breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

2. Apprehenderem te et ducerem in domum matris meae; ibi me doceres, et darem tibi poculum ex vino condito et mustum malorum granatorum meorum.

2. I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.

3. Laeva eius sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexatur me.

3. O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!

4. Adiuro vos, filiae Ierusalem, ne suscitetis neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.

4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please.

5. Quae est ista, quae ascendit de deserto innixa super dilectum suum? Sub arbore malo suscitavi te; ibi parturivit te mater tua, ibi parturivit te genetrix tua.

5. Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in travail with you, there she who bore you was in travail.

6. Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, ut signaculum super brachium tuum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus aemulatio; lampades eius lampades ignis atque flammae divinae.

6. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.

7. Aquae multae non potuerunt exstinguere caritatem, nec flumina obruent illam; si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suae pro dilectione, quasi nihil despicient eum.

7. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.

8. Soror nostra parva et ubera non habet; quid faciemus sorori nostrae in die, quando alloquenda est?

8. We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister, on the day when she is spoken for?

9. Si murus est, aedificemus super eum propugnacula argentea; si ostium est, compingamus illud tabulis cedrinis.

9. If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

10. Ego murus, et ubera mea sicut turris; ex quo facta sum coram eo quasi pacem reperiens.

10. I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.

11. Vinea fuit Salomoni in Baalhamon. Tradidit eam custodibus; vir affert pro fructu eius mille argenteos.

11. Solomon had a vineyard at Ba'al-ha'mon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12. Vinea mea coram me est; mille tibi, Salomon, et ducenti his, qui custodiunt fructus eius.

12. My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

13. Quae habitas in hortis, amici auscultant, fac me audire vocem tuam.

13. O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it.

14. Fuge, dilecte mi, et assimilare capreae hinnuloque cervorum super montes aromatum.

14. Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices.