Moff SNG Chapter 1

◄ SNG 1 ► ║ ═ ©

1 The song of all songs, which is Solomon’s.

Oh for a kiss from your lips

your caresses are dearer than wine,

rare is the fragrance of your perfumes,

the sound of your name is wafted like scent.

The girls are all in love with you;

but draw me to you--let us haste--

bring me to your chamber, O my king,

and there let us thrill with delight;

caresses from you will be dearer than wine--

no wonder girls adore you!

I am dark, but I am a beauty

maidens of Jerusalem

dark as tents of the Black men

beautiful as curtains of a Solomon.

Scorn me not for being dark

for the sun has tanned me

my brothers in anger set m

to look after the vineyard

but I did not look after the vineyard of my charms.

Tell me, love of my soul,

where do you rest your flock at noon;

for why should I go roamin

from flock to flock of your mates?

“Fairest of women, if you know not,

follow the sheep-tracks

and pasture your kid

by the tents of the herdsmen.

I liken you, my dear,

to a filly in the Pharaoh’s chariot--

your cheeks so fair with braided plaits,

your neck with strings of jewels;

we will have golden beads strung round you

studded with silver.”

When my king lies on his diwan

my charms breathe out their fragrance;

my darling is my bunch of myrr

that lies between my breasts,

my darling is my bunch of henna-blossom

from the gardens of Engedi.

“How fair you are, my dear

how fair with dove-like eyes!”

And how fair you are, my dar- ling,

oh how sweet!

Our bed of love is the green sward,

our roof-beams are yon cedar-boughs,

our rafters are the firs.

SNG C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8