“The song of songs, which is Solomon's. . . .” Song of Solomon, O.T.

Hark! Hear the song of Solomon - remain here awhile.
I am dark but comely, made more so by my smile.
Glance not upon me because I am black of skin;
the sun looked hard upon my people and my kin.
Keepers of their vineyards they forced my roots to be;
time not for vineyards of their own while in slavery.
Tell me, you whom my soul so loves, am I your love as well?
Is my joy yours; are you struck by the dart from which I fell?

Fair one, my love, arise to desire’s urge obey
until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.
Turn, my beloved - be like a roe with frenzied dart;
upon my mountains, spend the gladness of your heart.
Your firm hand ’neath my head, I in your caresses lie;
your love, better than wine, my raptures multiply.
I recline in your shadow with immense delight;
your fruit is sweet to my taste, launching imagined flight.

I open to you, beloved, to ardor’s fever douse;
a spring released, a fountain freed, in this, our love-paved house.
But when, in sated passion, you leave this banquet place,
be true to me, my love, after parting my embrace.
Jealousy is fierce and cruel, harsher than the grave:
its coals are jets of fire with wild flames that can enslave.
Floods cannot drown it, but time and blessed heaven must.
Beloved, know that after passion, Love is based on trust.

Awaken! My love, O fair one, come with me away;
for look, the rain has gone, and passed is winter’s gray.
The flowers appear upon once a barren earth;
the songs of birds are come, a time of life’s rebirth.
And the voice of the turtle is heard within the land;
over the sea it calls, beckoning beyond the sand.
The fig tree has put forth her green young figs as well,
and the tender-graped vineyards yield a pleasant smell.

I am the lily of the valleys and the rose of Sharon,
a flower of the desert fed by sweet streams of Lebanon.