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?
Bride to Groom: Who will give you to me as my brother, feeding from the breasts of my mother, so that I may discover you outside, and may kiss you, and so that now no one may 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 will take hold of you and lead you into my mother’s house. There you will teach me, and I will give you a cup of spiced wine, and of new wine from my pomegranates.
3 Læva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexabitur me.
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
4 Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.
Groom to Chorus: I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, not to disturb or awaken the beloved, until she wills.
5 Quæ est ista quæ ascendit de deserto, deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? Sub arbore malo suscitavi te; ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata est genitrix tua.
Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Groom to Bride: Under the apple tree, I awakened you. There your mother was corrupted. There she who bore you was violated.
6 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 like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm. For love is strong, like death, and envy is enduring, like hell: their lamps are made of fire and flames. (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.
A multitude of waters cannot extinguish love, nor can a river overwhelm it. If a man were to give all the substance of his house in exchange for love, he would despise it as nothing.
8 Soror nostra parva, et ubera non habet; quid faciemus sorori nostræ in die quando alloquenda est?
Chorus: Our sister is little and has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is called upon?
9 Si murus est, ædificemus super eum propugnacula argentea; si ostium est, compingamus illud tabulis cedrinis.
If she is a wall, let us build a rampart of silver upon it. If she is a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.
10 Ego murus, et ubera mea sicut turris, ex quo facta sum coram eo, quasi pacem reperiens.
Bride to Chorus: I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers, since, in his presence, I have become like one who has discovered peace.
11 Vinea fuit pacifico in ea quæ habet populos: tradidit eam custodibus; vir affert pro fructu ejus mille argenteos.
The peaceful one had a vineyard, in that which held the peoples. He handed it on to the caretakers; a man brought, in exchange for its fruit, a thousand pieces of silver.
12 Vinea mea coram me est. Mille tui pacifici, et ducenti his qui custodiunt fructus ejus.
Groom: My vineyard is before me. The thousand is for your peacefulness, and two hundred is for those who care for its fruit.
13 Quæ habitas in hortis, amici auscultant; fac me audire vocem tuam.
Bride to Groom: Your friends are attentive to those who have been dwelling in the gardens. Cause me to heed your voice.
14 Fuge, dilecte mi, et assimilare capreæ, hinnuloque cervorum super montes aromatum.
Flee away, my beloved, and become like the doe and the young stag upon the mountains of aromatic plants.
