¹¶ I te po, i runga i toku moenga, i rapua e ahau ta toku wairua i aroha ai: i rapua e ahau, heoi kihai i kitea.

¹On my bed, in the nights, I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

²Ka mea ahau, Ka whakatika ahau aianei, ka kopikopiko i roto i te pa, i nga huarahi, i nga waharoa, ka rapu i ta toku wairua i aroha ai: rapua ana ia e ahau, heoi kihai i kitea.

²I will rise now, and go about the city; In the streets and in the broadways Will I seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

³I tutaki ki ahau nga kaitiaki e kopikopiko nei i roto i te pa: ano ra ko ahau ki a ratou, I kite ranei koutou i ta toku wairua e aroha nei?

³The watchmen that go about the city found me: -- Have ye seen him whom my soul loveth?

⁴Pahemo kau atu ratou, kua tutaki ahau ki ta toku wairua e aroha nei; kei te pupuri ahau i a ia, kihai hoki ia i tukua atu e ahau, a kawea noatia atu ia e ahau ki te whare o toku whaea, ki te ruma o te wahine i whanau ai ahau.

⁴-- Scarcely had I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

⁵He ki tenei naku ki a koutou, e nga tamahine o Hiruharama, i te aroaro o nga anaterope, o nga hata o te parae, kaua e whakaoho, kaua e whakaara i taku e aroha nei, kia pai ra ano ia.

⁵I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, till he please.

⁶¶ Ko wai tenei e whakaputa mai nei i te koraha, ano ko nga pou paowa, kakara tonu i te maira, i te parakihe, i nga puehu katoa a te kaihoko?

⁶Who is this, [she] that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant? ...

⁷¶ Nana, ko te amo o Horomona; e toru tekau nga tangata marohirohi i tetahi taha, i tetahi taha, no nga marohirohi o Iharaira.

⁷Behold his couch, Solomon's own: Threescore mighty men are about it, Of the mighty of Israel.

⁸He hunga mau hoari ratou katoa, he mea whakaako ki te whawhai; kei tona huwha ano te hoari a tenei, a tenei, i te wehi hoki i te po.

⁸They all hold the sword, Experts in war; Each hath his sword upon his thigh Because of alarm in the nights.

⁹I hanga e Kingi Horomona he amo mona, no Repanona te rakau.

⁹King Solomon made himself a palanquin Of the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰Ko ona pou i hanga e ia ki te hiriwa, he koura a raro, he papura tona nohoanga, he mea whariki a waenganui ki te aroha, no nga tamahine o Hiruharama.

¹⁰Its pillars he made of silver, Its support of gold, Its seat of purple; The midst thereof was paved [with] love By the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹Haere, e nga tamahine o Hiona, ka matakitaki i a Kingi Horomona, me te karauna ano i karaunatia ai ia e tona whaea i te ra o tona marenatanga, i te ra hoki i koa ai tona ngakau.

¹¹Go forth, daughters of Zion, And behold king Solomon With the crown wherewith his mother crowned him In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the gladness of his heart.