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¹ O that I might finde thee without and kisse thee, whom I loue as my brother whiche suckt my mothers brestes, and that thou shalt not be dispised,² I wyll leade thee and bryng thee into my mothers house, that thou myghtest teache me, and that I myght geue thee drynke of the spiced wine, and of the sweete sappe of my pomegranates.³ His left hande shalbe vnder my head, and his ryght hande shall imbrace me.⁴ I charge you O ye daughters of Hierusalem that ye wake not vp my loue, nor touche her, tyll she be content her selfe.

⁵ (What is she this that cometh vp from the wildernesse, and leaneth vpon her loue?) I wake thee vp among the apple trees where thy mother conceaued thee, where thy mother [I say] brought thee into the worlde.⁶ O set me as a seale vpon thine heart, and as a seale vpon thine arme: for loue is myghtie as the death, and gelousie as the hell.⁷ Her coales are coales of fire, and a very vehement flambe [of the Lorde]: so that many waters are not able to quenche loue, neither may the streames drowne it: Yea yf a man woulde geue all the good of his house for loue, he shoulde count it nothyng.

⁸ Our sister is but young and hath no brestes: what shall we do for our sister when she shalbe spoken for?⁹ If she be a wall, we shall builde a siluer bulwarke thervpon: yf she be a doore, we shall fasten her with boordes of Cedar tree.¹⁰ I am a wall, and my brestes lyke towres, then was I as one that hath founde fauour in his syght.¹¹ Solomon hath a vineyarde at BaalHamon: and this vineyarde deliuered he vnto the kepers, that euery one for the fruite therof shoulde geue hym a thousande peeces of siluer.¹² My vineyarde which is myne, is in my syght: thou (O Solomon) must haue a thousande, and the kepers two hundred, which kepe the fruite.

¹³ Thou that dwellest in the gardens, O let me heare thy voyce, that my companions may hearken to the same.¹⁴ O get thee away my loue, and be as a roe or a young hart vpon the sweete smellyng mountaynes.