Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon, for why should I be like one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

Love’s Dream

Upon my bed at night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

“I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.” I sought him but found him not.

The sentinels found me, as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I brought him into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him but did not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer.