Songofsolomon 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride — I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends — drink! Drink deeply of love.

I was asleep, but my heart was awake — A sound! My love is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one — my head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

"I have taken off my robe — must I put it on again? I have washed my feet — must I get them dirty again?"

My lover slid his hand through the opening, and my lower body ached for him deep inside.

I rose to open for my love, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.

I opened for my love, but my love had turned and gone. My soul went out when he spoke — I searched for him but could not find him, I called for him but he did not answer.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds through the city. They beat me, they bruised me, they stripped my veil from me — those guardians of the walls.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem — if you find my love, what will you tell him? Tell him I am sick with love.

What makes your love better than any other, you most beautiful of women? What makes your love better than any other, that you charge us like this?

My love is radiant and ruddy, standing out among ten thousand.

His head is finest gold, his locks are wavy, black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, perched by a brimming pool.

His cheeks are like beds of spices, towers of fragrant herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.

His arms are cylinders of gold set with jewels. His abdomen is a plate of ivory sheathed in sapphires.

His thighs are marble pillars set on pedestals of finest gold. His presence is like Lebanon, majestic as its cedars.

His mouth is sweetness itself, and everything about him is desire. This is my love, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.