[Christ]
1 I Sharon's rose and lilly am
which in the valley grows;
2 As lillies among thorns, my Love
among the daughters shows.
[The Church]
3 As th' apple-tree among the woods,
which fruit most beauteous bears;
So my most dear beloved one
among the sons appears:
I with great joy sat in his shade;
his fruit most sweet did prove:
4 He brought me to his banquet-house;
his banner o'er me love.
5 With flaggons stay, with apples cheer,
for faint with love am I.
6 Under my head his left hand doth,
his right above me lie.
7 O daughters of Jerusalem
wake not my Love, nor raise;
By roes and hinds of all the fields
I charge you till He please.
8 O 'tis the voice of my Belov'd!
upon the mountain's He,
As roes or fawns bound o'er the hills,
so leaping comes, I see!
9 But now behind our wall He stands,
and thro' the window views?
I see Him thro' the Latices;
how lovelily He shews!
10 The my Beloved call'd to me,
to me did kindly say;
[Christ]
'Arise my Love, my fairest one,
'make haste and come away!
11 'For lo the winter now is past,
' the rain entirely gone;
12 'The flow'rs appear all o'er the earth,
'the singing birds come on!
'The turtle's soft and melting voice
'thro' all the land I hear:
13 'The fig-tree, see, puts forth her figs;
'The young and green appear!
'The vines with their young tender grapes
'around perfume the air:
'Arise my Love, my fairest one;
'come, stay no longer there!'
14 O Thou my dove, in clefts of rocks,
in secret stairs! let me
Hear thy sweet voice! thy comely face
O let me gladly see!
[The Church]
15 The foxes take for us away,
the little foxes# there,
Who spoil the vines; and then the vines
their tender grapes will bear.
16 My most beloved one is mine,
and I am wholly his;
Among the lillies of the vales
His pleasant feeding is.
17 Till the day break, and shades fly hence,
turn my Belov'd to me;
And like a roe or fawn upon
the Bether mountains be!
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