3:1 | Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover. I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful. | 3:2 | So I got up, went out and roved the city, hunting through streets and down alleys. I wanted my lover in the worst way! I looked high and low, and didn't find him. | 3:3 | And then the night watchmen found me as they patrolled the darkened city. "Have you seen my dear lost love?" I asked. | 3:4 | No sooner had I left them than I found him, found my dear lost love. I threw my arms around him and held him tight, wouldn't let him go until I had him home again, safe at home beside the fire. | 3:5 | Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem, by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer: Don't excite love, don't stir it up, until the time is ripe--and you're ready. | 3:6 | What's this I see, approaching from the desert, raising clouds of dust, Filling the air with sweet smells and pungent aromatics? | 3:7 | Look! It's Solomon's carriage, carried and guarded by sixty soldiers, sixty of Israel's finest, | 3:8 | All of them armed to the teeth, trained for battle, ready for anything, anytime. | 3:9 | King Solomon once had a carriage built from fine-grained Lebanon cedar. | 3:10 | He had it framed with silver and roofed with gold. The cushions were covered with a purple fabric, the interior lined with tooled leather. | 3:11 | Come and look, sisters in Jerusalem. Oh, sisters of Zion, don't miss this! My King-Lover, dressed and garlanded for his wedding, his heart full, bursting with joy! |
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