¹If only you were as my brother,

Who sucked my mother's breasts.

I would find you outdoors;

I would kiss you,

And I would not be despised.

²I would lead you

And bring you to my mother's house.

She would teach me.

I would give you some spiced wine to drink

Made from my pomegranate must.

³Let his left hand be under my head,

And his right hand embrace me.

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Why awaken or why arouse love

Before it is willing?”

⁵“Who is this coming up from the desert,

Leaning on her lover?”

“I aroused you under the apple tree.

Your mother bore you there.

She who gave birth to you

Bore you there.

⁶Place me like a seal on your heart,

Like a seal on your arm,

For love is as strong as death

And jealousy is as harsh as the grave;

Its flames are fiery flames

– An intense blaze.

⁷Even much water cannot quench love,

Nor can rivers wash it away.

If a man were to give all the wealth of his household for love,

It would be utterly contemptible of him.”

⁸“We have a little sister,

Who does not yet have breasts.

What should we do with our sister

On the day when she is proposed to?”

⁹“If she is a wall,

We will build silver castellations on her.

And if she is a door,

We will enclose her with panels of cedar.”

¹⁰“I am a wall,

And my breasts are like towers.

Then I was the one

Who found peace in his sight.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-Hamon.

He let the vineyard out to tenants.

Each one was to bring one thousand pieces of silver

For his fruit.

¹²My own vineyard is in front of me.

You can have your thousand, Solomon,

And you who keep its fruit, your two hundred.”

¹³“You garden-dweller,

My companions can hear your voice.

Let me hear it too.”

¹⁴“Hasten, my lover,

And be like a gazelle or a fawn of the deer

On the mountains of balsam.”