Arise, My Love, and Come Away
The woman speaks, remembering his shade, the banquet hall, his arm under her head. Then she repeats his call through the lattice: winter is over, the figs are ripening, come away. Twice she warns the daughters of Jerusalem not to wake love before it is ready.
2 1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. 2As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women. 3As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shade, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4He brought me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me was love. 5Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love. 6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. 7I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field: don't stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
8The voice of my beloved! He comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. 10My beloved says to me: Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, 11for the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 12The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 14My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom. 16My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. 17Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.
