T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Time of the Roses
Song of Solomon II(Arranged by Sir James George Frazer, 1895) I AM the rose of Sharon, | |
And the lily of the valleys. | |
As the lily among thorns, | |
So is my love among the daughters. | |
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, | 5 |
So is my beloved among the sons. | |
I sat down under his shadow with great delight, | |
And his fruit was sweet to my taste. | |
He brought me to the banqueting house, | |
And his banner over me was love. | 10 |
Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: | |
For I am sick of love. | |
His left hand is under my head, | |
And his right hand doth embrace me. | |
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, | 15 |
By the roes and by the hinds of the field, | |
That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, | |
Till he please. | |
The voice of my beloved! behold he cometh | |
Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. | 20 |
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: | |
Behold, he standeth behind our wall, | |
He looketh forth at the windows, | |
Shewing himself through the lattice. | |
My beloved spake, and said unto me, | 25 |
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. | |
For, lo, the winter is past, | |
The rain is over and gone; | |
The flowers appear on the earth; | |
The time of the singing of birds is come, | 30 |
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; | |
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, | |
And the vines with the tender grape give a good smell, | |
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. | |
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, | 35 |
Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; | |
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. | |
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: | |
For our vines have tender grapes. | |
My beloved is mine, and I am his: | 40 |
He feedeth among the lilies. | |
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, | |
Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart | |
Upon the mountains of Bether. | |