Solomon Admires His Bride's Beauty

He

¹Behold, you are beautiful, my love,

behold, you are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

that have come up from the washing,

all of which bear twins,

and not one among them has lost its young.

³Your lips are like a scarlet thread,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like the tower of David,

built in rows of stone;1

on it hang a thousand shields,

all of them shields of warriors.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,

that graze among the lilies.

⁶Until the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

I will go away to the mountain of myrrh

and the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are altogether beautiful, my love;

there is no flaw in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;

come with me from Lebanon.

Depart2 from the peak of Amana,

from the peak of Senir and Hermon,

from the dens of lions,

from the mountains of leopards.

⁹You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

¹¹Your lips drip nectar, my bride;

honey and milk are under your tongue;

the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹²A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

¹³Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates

with all choicest fruits,

henna with nard,

¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes,

with all choice spices—

¹⁵a garden fountain, a well of living water,

and flowing streams from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind,

and come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden,

let its spices flow.

Together in the Garden of Love

She

Let my beloved come to his garden,

and eat its choicest fruits.