² I was asleep, but my heart was awake.
    There’s a sound! My beloved is knocking.

“Open up for me, my sister, my darling,
    my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
    my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³ “I’ve taken off my clothes^[a]—
    am I supposed to put them on again?^[b]
I’ve washed my feet—
    am I supposed to^[c] get them dirty again?”
⁴ My beloved reached out his hand for the latch.^[d]
    My feelings for him were aroused.
⁵ I got up to open the door,^[e]
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
    on the handle of the lock.
⁶ I opened the door^[f] for my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned away; he was gone!
My very life went out when he departed.^[g]
    I searched for him,
        but couldn’t find him.
    I called out to him,
        but he didn’t answer.
⁷ The watchmen making their^[h] rounds
    through the city found me.
They beat me, they bruised me.
    Those guarding the walls took my cloak^[i] from me.