Canticum Canticorum 1
The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 Osculetur me osculo oris sui; quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino,
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your love is better than wine.
3 fragrantia unguentis optimis. Oleum effusum nomen tuum; ideo adolescentulæ dilexerunt te.
Because of the smell of your good ointments your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love you.
4 Trahe me, post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum. Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua; exsultabimus et lætabimur in te, memores uberum tuorum super vinum. Recti diligunt te.
Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you.
5 Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiæ Jerusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis.
I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Nolite me considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol. Filii matris meæ pugnaverunt contra me; posuerunt me custodem in vineis: vineam meam non custodivi.
Look not on me, because I am black, because the sun has looked on me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept.
7 Indica mihi, quem diligit anima mea, ubi pascas, ubi cubes in meridie, ne vagari incipiam post greges sodalium tuorum.
Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of your companions?
8 Si ignoras te, o pulcherrima inter mulieres, egredere, et abi post vestigia gregum, et pasce hædos tuos juxta tabernacula pastorum.
If you know not, O you fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te, amica mea.
I have compared you, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis; collum tuum sicut monilia.
Your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold.
11 Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi, vermiculatas argento.
We will make you borders of gold with studs of silver.
12 Dum esset rex in accubitu suo, nardus mea dedit odorem suum.
While the king sits at his table, my spikenard sends forth the smell thereof.
13 Fasciculus myrrhæ dilectus meus mihi; inter ubera mea commorabitur.
A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved to me; he shall lie all night between my breasts.
14 Botrus cypri dilectus meus mihi in vineis Engaddi.
My beloved is to me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.
15 Ecce tu pulchra es, amica mea! ecce tu pulchra es! Oculi tui columbarum.
Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves’ eyes.
16 Ecce tu pulcher es, dilecte mi, et decorus! Lectulus noster floridus.
Behold, you are fair, my beloved, yes, pleasant: also our bed is green.
17 Tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina, laquearia nostra cypressina.
The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
