Page:JPS-1917-Universal.djvu/993

Rh :How fair and how pleasant art thou,
 * O love, for delights!
 * This thy stature is like to a palm-tree,
 * And thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
 * I said: 'I will climb up into the palm-tree,
 * I will take hold of the branches thereof;
 * And let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine,
 * And the smell of thy countenance like apples;
 * And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine,
 * That glideth down smoothly for my beloved,
 * Moving gently the lips of those that are asleep.'


 * I am my beloved's,
 * And his desire is toward me.:
 * Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
 * Let us lodge in the villages.
 * Let us get up early to the vineyards;
 * Let us see whether the vine hath budded,
 * Whether the vine-blossom be opened,
 * And the pomegranates be in flower;
 * There will I give thee my love.
 * The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
 * And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits,
 * New and old,
 * Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.


 * Oh that thou wert as my brother,
 * That sucked the breasts of my mother!
 * When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;
 * Yea, and none would despise me.
 * I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house,
 * That thou mightest instruct me;
 * I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,
 * Of the juice of my pomegranate.
 * His left hand should be under my head,
 * And his right hand should embrace me.
 * 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem:
 * Why should ye awaken, or stir up love,
 * Until it please?'


 * Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
 * Leaning upon her beloved?
 * Under the apple-tree I awakened thee;
 * There thy mother was in travail with thee;
 * There was she in travail and brought thee forth.


 * Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
 * As a seal upon thine arm;
 * For love is strong as death,
 * Jealousy is cruel as the grave;
 * The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
 * A very flame of the.
 * Many waters cannot quench love,
 * Neither can the floods drown it;
 * If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
 * He would utterly be contemned.


 * We have a little sister,
 * And she hath no breasts;
 * What shall we do for our sister
 * In the day when she shall be spoken for?
 * If she be a wall,
 * We will build upon her a turret of silver;
 * And if she be a door,