Sulayman 8

Oh that you were like my brother,

Who sucked the breasts of my mother!

If I found you outside, I would kiss you;

Yes, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you, bringing you into my mother's house,

Who would instruct me.

I would have you drink spiced wine,

Of the juice of my pomegranate.

³His left hand would be under my head.

His right hand would embrace me.

 

⁴I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

That you not stir up, nor awaken love,

Until it so desires.

 

Friends

⁵Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,

Leaning on her beloved?

 

Under the apple tree I aroused you.

There your mother conceived you.

There she was in labour and bore you.

 

⁶Set me as a seal on your heart,

As a seal on your arm;

For love is strong as death.

Jealousy is as cruel as the grave;

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

A very flame of Allah.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love,

Neither can floods drown it.

If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,

He would be utterly scorned.

 

Friends

⁸We have a little sister.

She has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

In the day when she is to be spoken for?

 

⁹If she is a wall,

We will build on her a turret of silver.

If she is a door,

We will enclose her with boards of cedar.

 

Beloved

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like towers,

Then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

¹¹Sulayman had a vineyard at Baal Hamon.

He leased out the vineyard to keepers.

Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

¹²My own vineyard is before me.

The thousand are for you, Sulayman;

Two hundred for those who tend its fruit.

 

Lover

¹³You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance,

Let me hear your voice!

 

Beloved

¹⁴Come away, my beloved!

Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!