Canticum Canticorum 8
1 [Quis mihi det te fratrem meum, sugentem ubera matris meæ, ut inveniam te foris, et deosculer te, et jam me nemo despiciat?
I would that you, O my kinsman, were he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found you without, I would kiss you; yes, they should not despise me.
2 Apprehendam te, et ducam in domum matris meæ: ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito, et mustum malorum granatorum meorum.
I would take you, I would bring you into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates.
3 Læva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexabitur me.
His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
4 Sponsus Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.
I have charged you, you daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please.
5 Chorus Quæ est ista quæ ascendit de deserto, deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? Sponsus Sub arbore malo suscitavi te; ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata est genitrix tua.
Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised you up under an apple tree; there your mother brought you forth; there she that bore you brought you forth.
6 Sponsa Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, ut signaculum super brachium tuum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus æmulatio: lampades ejus lampades ignis atque flammarum. (Sheol h7585)
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, [even] the flames thereof. (Sheol h7585)
7 Aquæ multæ non potuerunt extinguere caritatem, nec flumina obruent illam. Si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suæ pro dilectione, quasi nihil despiciet eam.
Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not drown it; if a man would give all his substance for love, [men] would utterly despise it.
8 Chorus Fratrum Soror nostra parva, et ubera non habet; quid faciemus sorori nostræ in die quando alloquenda est?
Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for?
9 Si murus est, ædificemus super eum propugnacula argentea; si ostium est, compingamus illud tabulis cedrinis.
If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels.
10 Sponsa Ego murus, et ubera mea sicut turris, ex quo facta sum coram eo, quasi pacem reperiens.
I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace.
11 Chorus Fratrum Vinea fuit pacifico in ea quæ habet populos: tradidit eam custodibus; vir affert pro fructu ejus mille argenteos.
Solomon had a vineyard in Beelamon; he let his vineyard to keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand [pieces] of silver.
12 Sponsa Vinea mea coram me est. Mille tui pacifici, et ducenti his qui custodiunt fructus ejus.
My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon [shall have] a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred.
13 Sponsus Quæ habitas in hortis, amici auscultant; fac me audire vocem tuam.
You that dwell in the gardens, the companions listen to your voice: make me hear [it].
14 Sponsa Fuge, dilecte mi, et assimilare capreæ, hinnuloque cervorum super montes aromatum.]
Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.
