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¹ I AM a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. ² As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

³ As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. ⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. ⁵ Stay ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. ⁶ His left hand [is] under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. ⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awaken love, until it please.

⁸ The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. ⁹ My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in at the windows, he sheweth himself through the lattice. ¹⁰ My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹¹ For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; ¹² The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; ¹³ The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

¹⁴ O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice: for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. ¹⁵ Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. ¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth [his flock] among the lilies. ¹⁷ Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.