2 

Oh for a kiss from your lips

your caresses are dearer than wine,

3 

rare is the fragrance of your perfumes,

the sound of your name is wafted like scent.

The girls are all in love with you;

4 

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!

5 

I am dark, but I am a beauty

maidens of Jerusalem

dark as tents of the Black men

beautiful as curtains of a Solomon.

6 

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.

7 

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?

8 

“Fairest of women, if you know not,

follow the sheep-tracks

and pasture your kid

by the tents of the herdsmen.

9 

I liken you, my dear,

to a filly in the Pharaoh’s chariot--

10 

your cheeks so fair with braided plaits,

your neck with strings of jewels;

11 

we will have golden beads strung round you

studded with silver.”

12 

When my king lies on his diwan

my charms breathe out their fragrance;

13 

my darling is my bunch of myrr

that lies between my breasts,

14 

my darling is my bunch of henna-blossom

from the gardens of Engedi.

15 

“How fair you are, my dear

how fair with dove-like eyes!”

16 

And how fair you are, my dar- ling,

oh how sweet!

Our bed of love is the green sward,

17 

our roof-beams are yon cedar-boughs,

our rafters are the firs.