✧I have come to 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, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved. ✧2I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” ✧3I have taken off my robe— must I put it back on? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? ✧4My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him. ✧5I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. ✧6I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him, but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer. ✧7I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls. ✧8O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love. ✧9How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so? ✧10My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.