Spring Rhapsody

^[8] Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. ^[9] My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. ^[10] My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. ^[11] See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. ^[12] Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. ^[13] The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.” ^[14]He My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. ^[15] Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. ^[16]She My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. ^[17] Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills. ^[1] All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. ^[2] I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. ^[3] The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?” ^[4] Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me. ^[5] Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. ^[6] Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? ^[7] Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, ^[8] all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night. ^[9] King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. ^[10] Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love. Daughters of Jerusalem, ^[11] come out, and look, you daughters of Zion. Look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION