Chapter 2

  I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.  

-

  As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.  

-

  As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.  

-

  He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.  

-

  Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick with love.  

-

  His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.  

-

  I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not, nor awake my love, till he please.  

-

  The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.  

-

  My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.  

-

  My beloved spoke, and said to me, Rise, my love, my fair one, and come away.  

-

  For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.  

-

  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;  

-

  The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.  

-

  O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.  

-

  Take for us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.  

-

  My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.  

-

  Until the day shall break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.  

-