<p class="poetry">The night watchmen found me &#8211; the ones who guard the city walls.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have you seen my beloved?&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.p> <p class="poetry">They beat me, they bruised me;p> <p class="poetry">they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!p>

<p class="poetry">Turn your eyes away from me &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">they overwhelm<n id="1" /> me!p> <p class="poetry">Your hair is like a flock of goatsp> <p class="poetry">descending from Mount Gilead.p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Beloved to Her Lover:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">Until the dawn arrives<n id="1" /> and the shadows flee,p> <p class="poetry">turn,<n id="2" /> my beloved &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">be like a gazelle or a young stagp> <p class="poetry">on the mountain gorges.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I will arise<n id="1" /> and look all around<n id="2" /> throughout the town,p> <p class="poetry">and throughout the streets<n id="3" /> and squares;p> <p class="poetry">I will search for my beloved.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">I searched for him but I did not find him.<n id="4" />p>