My Forever Lover Poem by Victor Phinda Mokoena

I am the heart of love,
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,
So is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down under her
Shadow with great delight,
And her fruit was sweet to my taste.

She brought me to
The banqueting house,
And her banner over me was love.

Stay me with flagons,
Comfort me with apples:
For I am sick of love.

Her left hand is under my arm,
And her right hand doth embrace me.

I charge you,
O ye daughter of South Africa,
By the roes,
And by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up,
Nor awake my love, till she please.

The voice of my beloved!
Behold,
She cometh leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.

My beloved is like a rose or a young one: Behold,
She standeth behind our wall,
She looketh forth at the windows,
Shewing herself through the lattice.

My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up,
My love,
My fair one,
And come away.

For,
love,
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,
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,
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 hers:
She 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 ones upon
The mountains of Bether