1
One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover.
I yearned for him, but he did not come.
2
So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city,
searching in all its streets and squares.
I will search for the one I love.”
So I searched everywhere but did not find him.
3
The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds,
and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?”
4
Then scarcely had I left them
when I found my love!
I caught and held him tightly,
then I brought him to my mother’s house,
into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived.
5
Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and wild deer,
not to awaken love until the time is right. 1