✧O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. ✧2I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. ✧3His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. ✧4O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right. ✧5Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth. ✧6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. ✧7Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned. ✧8We have a little sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for? ✧9If she is a wall, we will build a tower of silver to protect her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. ✧10I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So I have become in his eyes like one who brings peace.