She

I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! 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.’
I have taken off my robe –
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet –
    must I soil them again?
My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
I opened for my beloved,
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.
    My heart sank at his departure.[a]
I looked for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you –
    if you find my beloved,
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 5:6 Or heart had gone out to him when he spoke