THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE

² I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
    my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”
³ I have taken off my robe—
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
    must I soil them again?
⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened for my beloved,
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.
    My heart sank at his departure.^[a]
I looked for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
⁸ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—
    if you find my beloved,
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.

⁹ How is your beloved better than others,
    most beautiful of women?
How is your beloved better than others,
    that you so charge us?

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    outstanding among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is purest gold;
    his hair is wavy
    and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
    by the water streams,
washed in milk,
    mounted like jewels.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice
    yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies
    dripping with myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.
¹⁵ His legs are pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
    choice as its cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.

6 Where has your beloved gone,
    most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?

² My beloved has gone down to his garden,
    to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
    he browses among the lilies.