Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum, et comedat fructum pomorum suorum. Sponsus Veni in hortum meum, soror mea, sponsa; messui myrrham meam cum aromatibus meis; comedi favum cum melle meo; bibi vinum meum cum lacte meo; comedite, amici, et bibite, et inebriamini, carissimi.

Into his garden, then, let my true love come, and taste his fruit. The garden gained, my bride, my heart’s love; myrrh and spices of mine all reaped; the honey eaten in its comb, the wine drunk and the milk, that were kept for me! Eat your fill, lovers; drink, sweethearts, and drink deep!

Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved.

Sponsa Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat. Vox dilecti mei pulsantis: Sponsus Aperi mihi, soror mea, amica mea, columba mea, immaculata mea, quia caput meum plenum est rore, et cincinni mei guttis noctium.

I lie asleep; but oh, my heart is wakeful! A knock on the door, and then my true love’s voice: Let me in, my true love, so gentle, my bride, so pure! See, how bedewed is this head of mine, how the night rains have drenched my hair!

I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.

Sponsa Expoliavi me tunica mea: quomodo induar illa? lavi pedes meos: quomodo inquinabo illos?

Ah, but my shift, I have laid it by: how can I put it on again? My feet I washed but now; shall I soil them with the dust?

I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?

Dilectus meus misit manum suam per foramen, et venter meus intremuit ad tactum ejus.

Then my true love thrust his hand through the lattice, and I trembled inwardly at his touch.

My beloved put his hand through the key hole, and my bowels were moved at his touch.

Surrexi ut aperirem dilecto meo; manus meæ stillaverunt myrrham, et digiti mei pleni myrrha probatissima.

I rose up to let him in; but my hands dripped ever with myrrh; still with the choicest myrrh my fingers were slippery,

I arose up to open to my beloved: my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh.

Pessulum ostii mei aperui dilecto meo, at ille declinaverat, atque transierat. Anima mea liquefacta est, ut locutus est; quæsivi, et non inveni illum; vocavi, et non respondit mihi.

as I caught the latch. When I opened, my true love was gone; he had passed me by. How my heart had melted at the sound of his voice! And now I searched for him in vain; there was no answer when I called out to him.

I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me.

Invenerunt me custodes qui circumeunt civitatem; percusserunt me, et vulneraverunt me. Tulerunt pallium meum mihi custodes murorum.

As they went the city rounds, the watchmen fell in with me, that guard the walls; beat me, and left me wounded, and took away my cloak.

The keepers that go about the city found me: they struck me: and wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, si inveneritis dilectum meum, ut nuntietis ei quia amore langueo.

I charge you, maidens of Jerusalem, fall you in with the man I long for, give him this news of me, that I pine away with love.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.

Chorus Qualis est dilectus tuus ex dilecto, o pulcherrima mulierum? qualis est dilectus tuus ex dilecto, quia sic adjurasti nos?

Nay, but tell us, fairest of women, how shall we know this sweetheart of thine from another’s? Why is he loved beyond all else, that thou art so urgent with us?

What manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women? what manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, that thou hast so adjured us?

Sponsa Dilectus meus candidus et rubicundus; electus ex millibus.

My sweetheart? Among ten thousand you shall know him; so white is the colour of his fashioning, and so red.

My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.

Caput ejus aurum optimum; comæ ejus sicut elatæ palmarum, nigræ quasi corvus.

His head dazzles like the purest gold; the hair on it lies close as the high palm-branches, raven hair.

His head is as the finest gold: his locks as branches of palm trees, black as a raven.

Oculi ejus sicut columbæ super rivulos aquarum, quæ lacte sunt lotæ, et resident juxta fluenta plenissima.

His eyes are gentle as doves by the brook-side, only these are bathed in milk, eyes full of repose.

His eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk, and sit beside the plentiful streams.

Genæ illius sicut areolæ aromatum, consitæ a pigmentariis. Labia ejus lilia, distillantia myrrham primam.

Cheeks trim as a spice-bed of the perfumer’s own tending; drench lilies in the finest myrrh, and you shall know the fragrance of his lips.

His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers. His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrh.

Manus illius tornatiles, aureæ, plenæ hyacinthis. Venter ejus eburneus, distinctus sapphiris.

Hands well rounded; gold set with jacynth is not workmanship so delicate; body of ivory, and veins of sapphire blue;

His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths. His belly as of ivory, set with sapphires.

Crura illius columnæ marmoreæ quæ fundatæ sunt super bases aureas. Species ejus ut Libani, electus ut cedri.

legs straight as marble columns, that stand in sockets of gold. Erect his stature as Lebanon itself, noble as Lebanon cedar.

His legs as pillars of marble, that are set upon bases of gold. His form as of Libanus, excellent as the cedars.

Guttur illius suavissimum, et totus desiderabilis. Talis est dilectus meus, et ipse est amicus meus, filiæ Jerusalem.

Oh, that sweet utterance! Nothing of him but awakes desire. Such is my true love, maidens of Jerusalem; such is the companion I have lost.

His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.

Chorus Quo abiit dilectus tuus, o pulcherrima mulierum? quo declinavit dilectus tuus? et quæremus eum tecum.

But where went he, fairest of women, this true love of thine? Tell us what haunts he loves, and we will come with thee to search for him.

Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?