Chapter 5 - The youth and the maiden

THE YOUTH TO THE MAIDEN

1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: 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.

THE MAIDEN 

2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, 

Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

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

4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.

5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers (of the walls) took away my veil from me.

8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

9 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 charge us?

10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

11 His head is [as] the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black [as] a raven.

12 His eyes are [as] the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

13 His cheeks are [as] a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers: his lips [like] lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

14 His hands are [as] gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is [as] bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

15 His legs are [as] pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is [as] Lebanon, excellent [as] the cedars.

16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6