The Lover to His Beloved: Your stature ¹  is like a palm tree, ²  and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. ³ 

“Who ¹  is this who appears ²  like the dawn? ³  Beautiful as the moon, ⁴  bright ⁵  as the sun, awe-inspiring ⁶  as the stars in procession?” ⁷ 

The Speaker: ¹  Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, like ²  a fragrant billow ³  of myrrh and frankincense, ⁴  every kind of fragrant powder ⁵  of the traveling merchants? ⁶ 

The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; ¹  there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth. ²