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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 an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste.⁴ He hath brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me is love.⁵ 'Stay ye me with dainties, refresh me with apples; for I am love-sick.'⁶ Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.⁷ 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'

⁸ Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.¹⁰ My beloved spoke, 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 singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;¹³ The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom 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 cliff, 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, that feedeth among the lilies.¹⁷ Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.