Chapter 1

Bride: May he kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.. Groom to Bride: So much better than wine are your breasts,

fragranced with the finest perfumes. Bride to Groom: Your name is oil that has been poured out; therefore, the maidens have loved you.

Draw me forward. Chorus to Bride: We will run after you in the odor of your perfumes. Bride to Chorus: The king has led me into his storerooms. Chorus to Bride: We will exult and rejoice in you, remembering your breasts above wine. Groom to Bride: The righteous love you.

Bride to Chorus: O daughters of Jerusalem: I am black, but shapely, like the tabernacles of Kedar, like the tents of Solomon.

Do not be concerned that I am dark, for the sun has changed my color. The sons of my mother have fought against me. They have made me the keeper of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have not kept.

Bride to Groom: Reveal to me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you recline at midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of your companions.

Groom to Bride: If you yourself do not know, O most beautiful among women, then go out and follow after the steps of the flocks, and pasture your young goats beside the tabernacles of the shepherds.

O my love, I have compared you to my company of horsemen against the chariots of Pharaoh.

Your cheeks are beautiful, like those of a turtledove. Your neck is like a bejeweled collar.

Chorus to Bride: We will fashion for you chains of gold, accented with reddened silver.

Bride to Chorus: While the king was taking his rest, my aromatic ointment sent forth its odor.

My beloved is a bundle of myrrh to me. He shall abide between my breasts.

My beloved is a cluster of Cyprus grapes to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.

Groom to Bride: Behold, you are beautiful, O my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are those of a dove.

Bride to Groom: Behold, you are handsome, O my beloved, and graceful. Our bed is flourishing.

Groom to Bride: The timbers of our houses are of cedar; our ceilings are of cypress.