Song of Songs 5
(1) Male:
“I stepped into my garden, my bride. I gathered my myrrh and my balsam spice. I ate my honeycomb and my honey. I became drunk off of my wine and my milk. Eat, my companion. Drink and become drunk, oh lover.
(2) Female:
“I am fast asleep, yet my heart is awake. I hear a voice—it’s my love knocking at the door!
He says, ‘Open up for me, my lover, my darling, my dove, my perfect one!’
“My hair is damp from the dew that came overnight. I took off my dress—how could I put it on again? I washed my feet—how could I dirty them again?
“My lover stretched his hand through the opening by the door, and I felt my stomach leap for him. I got up to open the door for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh as I grabbed the handle of the bolt. I opened the door to my lover—but he had already disappeared!
“My heart skipped a beat for him when he spoke. I looked around for him but couldn’t find him. I called, but he didn’t answer. The watchmen who make their rounds throughout the city saw me, so they hit me and gave me a bruise. The guards on the city walls took away my veil. I swear, women of Jerusalem: if you find my lover, tell him that I am lovesick.”
(9) Women of Jerusalem:
“Oh, beautiful woman, what makes your lover so much better than other lovers that makes you swear to us?”
(10) Female:
“My lover is dazzling and ruddy. He stands out in crowd of 10,000! His head is like gold—pure gold. His hair is so thick and wavy, black like a raven. His eyes are like doves bathed in milk sitting next to a stream. His cheeks are like a bed of balsam spices or banks of other aromatic spices. His lips are lilies dripping with myrrh. His wrists are rods of gold inlaid with yellow gemstones. His abdomen is a slab of ivory, inlaid with sapphires. His legs are pillars of marble sitting on pedestals of pure gold. He’s as much of a spectacle as Lebanon—as choice as its cedar trees. His mouth is full of sweetness, and everything about him is desirable. That’s who my lover and friend is, oh women of Jerusalem.”
