¹ On my bed at night I sought the man who is my sweetheart: I sought but could not find him!

² So I shall get up and go through the city; in the streets and in the squares, I shall seek my sweetheart. I sought but could not find him!

³ I came upon the watchmen -- those who go on their rounds in the city: 'Have you seen my sweetheart?'

⁴ Barely had I passed them when I found my sweetheart. I caught him, would not let him go, not till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room where she conceived me!

⁵ LOVER: I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by gazelles and wild does, do not rouse, do not wake my beloved before she pleases.

⁶ POET: What is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, breathing of myrrh and frankincense and every exotic perfume?

⁷ Here comes Solomon's litter. Around it are sixty champions, the flower of the warriors of Israel;

⁸ all of them skilled swordsmen, expert in war. Each man has his sword at his side, against alarms by night.

⁹ King Solomon has had a palanquin made of wood from Lebanon.

¹⁰ He has had the posts made of silver, the canopy of gold, the seat of purple; the centre is inlaid with ebony.

¹¹ Daughters of Zion, come and see King Solomon, wearing the diadem with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, on the day of his heart's joy.