W I was sleeping, but my heart was awake. The sound of my lover knocking! “Open to me, my sister, my friend, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew, my hair, with the moisture of the night.”
Then something like a hand touched my lips; I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, I was seized with pangs at the vision and I was powerless.
I hear, and my body trembles; at the sound, my lips quiver. Decay invades my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. I await the day of distress that will come upon the people who attack us.
When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,