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W(A) My lover has come down to his garden,[a]
    to the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:2–3 The woman implies here that she had never really lost her lover, for he has come down to his garden (cf. 2:16; 4:5). Feed…lilies: the imagery here evokes both a shepherd pasturing his flocks and erotic play between the lovers (2:16; 4:5, 12, 16).

She

My beloved has gone(A) down to his garden,(B)
    to the beds of spices,(C)
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.

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Love’s Meeting

11 W(A) To the walnut grove[a] I went down,
    to see the young growth of the valley;
To see if the vines were in bloom,
    if the pomegranates had blossomed.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:11 Walnut grove: also a site of activity in a wedding hymn of the Syrian moon goddess Nikkal (cf. the woman compared to the moon in v. 10).

He

11 I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.(A)

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