1. On my bed by nightI sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
2. I will rise now and go about the city,in the streets and in the squares;I will seek him whom my soul loves.I sought him, but found him not.
3. The watchmen found meas they went about in the city.“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4. Scarcely had I passed themwhen I found him whom my soul loves.I held him, and would not let him gountil I had brought him into my mother’s house,and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
5. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field,that you not stir up or awaken loveuntil it pleases.
6. What is that coming up from the wildernesslike columns of smoke,perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7. Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!Around it are sixty mighty men,some of the mighty men of Israel,
8. all of them wearing swordsand expert in war,each with his sword at his thigh,against terror by night.
9. King Solomon made himself a carriagefrom the wood of Lebanon.
10. He made its posts of silver,its back of gold, its seat of purple;its interior was inlaid with loveby the daughters of Jerusalem.
11. Go out, O daughters of Zion,and look upon King Solomon,with the crown with which his mother crowned himon the day of his wedding,on the day of the gladness of his heart.