The text does not indicate who is speaking so my labels are based on one particular translation and are bound to be wrong at times, especially in attributing to the man and woman what’s really meant to be spoken by third parties. The main thing to know about this book is that mainstream Judaism and Christianity have spent millenia desperately denying its secular and sexual nature so for both it’s often seen as an allegory. In Judaism the woman is Israel and the man is God, in Christianity the woman is the Church and the man is Jesus. Since it’s mostly poetry my summary basically pulls out the most colourful phrases and eliminates repetition — it will therefore not read poetically but will *summarise* the content.
[Woman]: “Your love is more delightful than wine; that’s why maidens love you. I am dark but pretty — don’t hold it against me.” [Man]: “Tell me, where do you pasture your sheep? [So I can visit.] You are like a mare in pharaoh’s cavalry.” [Woman]: “My beloved is a bag of myrrh between my breasts. I am a lily of the valleys, he’s like an apple tree among ordinary trees. I sit in his shade and taste his fruit. He told me to give him apples: he was faint with love. Here he comes, leaping over mountains like a gazelle, telling me to come away with him to beautiful lands.I sought him but he was gone. I must roam the town asking for his whereabouts. I found him and held him close, bringing him to my mother’s house.”
Who is she who comes from the desert like smoke? Here is King Solomon’s couch surrounded by 60 warriors who wear swords because of the terror by night. King Solomon made many fancy objects — oh maidens, do gaze on him as he wears his wedding day crown! [Man]: “Your hair is like a flock of goats, your teeth like a flock of ewes, your neck like the Tower of David, your breasts like two fawns. Come down from the mountains and the dens of lions; I have a private garden, my bride. Your limbs are an orchard of henna, saffron and cinnamon. I have drunk wine in my garden
.”
[Woman]: “My beloved knocked, his head wet from dew. I just bathed my feet: was I to soil them again? I opened the door but he was gone. I met the watchmen of the town but they hit me and stripped me of my mantle. If you see him, tell him I’m faint with love. His locks are curly and black like a raven. His lips are like lillies, his legs like the cedars of Lebanon.” [Maidens]: “Where has your beloved gone?” [Woman]: “To his garden of spices. He is mine and I am his.” [Man]: “You’re so beautiful, avert your eyes so that I’m not overwhelmed! My beloved is only one; even queens praise her. Your navel is like a round goblet — let wine flow freely. Your form is like a palm, your breasts like clusters; let me climb the palm and hold its branches.”
[Woman]: “Let’s go to the vineyards: if the pomegranates are in bloom, I will give my love to you. If only you were like my brother so that I could kiss you [openly] on the street! Love is as fearce as death, mighty as Sheol [the underworld]. If a man offered all his wealth for love, he would be laughed at.” [Woman’s brothers]: “We have a sister with unformed breasts. What shall we do with her when she comes of age? If she be a wall, we’ll build on it a battlement. If she be a door, we will panel it in cedar.” [Woman]: “I am a wall and my breasts are like towers — therefore I found favour in his eyes. King Solomon had a vineyard with such fruit that people gave 1000 pieces of silver for it; but I have my own vineyard. Flee my beloved, swift as a gazelle to the hills of spices!”
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