54 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 8
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1 Oh, I wish you were my brother,
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who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
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Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching,
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and no one would criticize me.
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2 I would bring you to my childhood home,
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and there you would teach me.
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I would give you spiced wine to drink,
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my sweet pomegranate wine.
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3 Your left arm would be under my head,
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and your right arm would embrace me.
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4 Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,
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not to awaken love until the time is right.
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5 Who is this sweeping in from the desert,
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leaning on her lover?
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I aroused you under the apple tree,
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where your mother gave you birth,
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where in great pain she delivered you.
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6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
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like a seal on your arm.
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For love is as strong as death,
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its jealousy as enduring as the grave.
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Love flashes like fire,
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the brightest kind of flame.
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7 Many waters cannot quench love,
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nor can rivers drown it.
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If a man tried to buy love
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with all his wealth,
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his offer would be utterly scorned.
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8 We have a little sister
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too young to have breasts.
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What will we do for our sister
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if someone asks to marry her?
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9 If she is a virgin, like a wall,
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we will protect her with a silver tower.
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But if she is promiscuous, like a swinging door,
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we will block her door with a cedar bar.
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10 I was a virgin, like a wall;
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now my breasts are like towers.
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When my lover looks at me,
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he is delighted with what he sees.
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11 Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon,
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which he leases out to tenant farmers.
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Each of them pays a thousand pieces of silver
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for harvesting its fruit.
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12 But my vineyard is mine to give,
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and Solomon need not pay a thousand pieces of silver.
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But I will give two hundred pieces
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to those who care for its vines.
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13 O my darling, lingering in the gardens,
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your companions are fortunate to hear your voice.
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Let me hear it, too!
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14 Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle
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or a young stag on the mountains of spices. |