1. If only I could treat you like my brother, one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,I would find you in public and kiss you,and no one would scorn me.
2. I would lead you, I would take you,to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drinkfrom my pomegranate juice.
3. His left hand is under my head,and his right arm embraces me.
4. Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:do not stir up or awaken loveuntil the appropriate time.
5. Who is this coming up from the wilderness,leaning on the one she loves?I awakened you under the apricot tree. There your mother conceived you;there she conceived and gave you birth.
6. Set me as a seal on your heart,as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.Love’s flames are fiery flames —the fiercest of all.
7. Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;rivers cannot sweep it away.If a man were to give all his wealth for love, it would be utterly scorned.