2 "I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: 'Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of the night.' 3 "I have taken off my dress, How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, How can I dirty them again? 4 "My beloved extended his hand through the opening, And my feelings were aroused for him. 5 "I arose to open to my beloved; And my hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the bolt. 6 "I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and had gone! My heart went out to him as he spoke I searched for him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me. 7 "The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me, They struck me and wounded me; The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me. 8 "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, As to what you will tell him: For I am lovesick."
9 "What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, That thus you adjure us?"