Colors of Foreign Literature: The Lily of the Valleys
The Song of Solomon
... I am the narcissus of Sharon,
the lily of the valleys.
As the lily among thorns,
so is my beloved among the daughters...
As the apple tree among the trees of the wild wood,
so is my beloved among the sons.
Under his shadow I longed to
sit, and his fruit was sweet to my throat.
He brought me into the house of wine,
and his banner over me was love.
Stay me with cakes of raisins...
refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the hinds
of the fields, that you neither wake nor
rouse the beloved until he please.
The voice of my beloved... behold, he
comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young hart.
Behold, he stands behind our wall,
gazing in at the openings, peeping through the lattices....
My beloved answered and said to me:
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers have appeared on the earth.
My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures among the lilies.
22