Mabilla you are the rose of Sharon, the lily of your heart. As a lily among the thistles, so is my beloved among mountains. As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my love among mountains. In his delightful shade I sit, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. She has taken me to his cellar, and his banner over me is love.
Feed me with raisin cakes; restore me with apples, for I am sick with love of you. Her left arm is under my head, his right embraces me.I charge you, daughters of Nigeria, by all gazelles and wild does, do not rouse, do not wake my beloved before she pleases. I hear my love. See how she comes leaping among mountains, bounding over the hills.
My love is like a gazelle, like a young stag. See where she stands behind our wall. He looks in at the window, she peers through the opening. My love lifts up his voice, he says to me, ‘Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone. You are truly my source of inspiration and hope. When am with you, I feel deep strength. As the deer pant for water Brooke, so my soul, body and spirit yens for you.
Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season of glad songs has come; the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land.The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.
My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the cliff, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.’Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that make havoc of the vineyards, for our vineyards are in fruit. My love is mine and I am his. He pastures she flock among the lilies.
If you do not know this, O loveliest of mountain, follow the tracks of the flock, and take a deep graze close to your beauty. I compare you, my love, to my mare harnessed to Pharaoh’s chariot. Your cheeks show fair between their pendants and your neck within its necklaces.
How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves. How beautiful you are, my love, and how you delight me! Our bed is the greensward. The beams of our house are cedar trees, its paneling the cypress.What is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, breathing of myrrh and frankincense and every exotic perfume? Come from Lebanon, come from Lebanon, and come on your way. Look down from the heights of Amanus, from the crests of Senir and Hermon, the haunt of lions, the mountains of leopards. You ravish my heart, my sister, my family; you ravish my heart with a single one of your glances, with a single link of your crest.
Before the day-breeze rises, before the shadows flee, return! Be, my love, like a gazelle, like a young stag, on the mountains of Mabilla Taraba State, Nigeria.
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