The Man
1 How beautiful you are, my love!
How your eyes shine with love behind your veil.
Your hair dances like a flock of goats
bounding down the hills of Gilead.
2 Your teeth are as white as sheep
that have just been shorn and washed.
Not one of them is missing;
they are all perfectly matched.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
how lovely they are when you speak.
Your cheeks glow behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
round and smooth,
with a necklace like a thousand shields hung around it.
5 Your breasts are like gazelles,
twin deer feeding among lilies.
6 I will stay on the hill of myrrh,
the hill of incense,
until the morning breezes blow
and the darkness disappears.
7 How beautiful you are, my love;
how perfect you are!
8 Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Come down from the top of Mount Amana,
from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon,
where the lions and leopards live.
9 The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride,
and the necklace you are wearing
have stolen my heart.
10 Your love delights me,
my sweetheart and bride.
Your love is better than wine;
your perfume more fragrant than any spice.
11 The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling;
your tongue is milk and honey for me.
Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden,
a walled garden, a private spring;
13 there the plants flourish.
They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees
and bear the finest fruits.
There is no lack of henna and nard,
14 of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon,
or incense of every kind.
Myrrh and aloes grow there
with all the most fragrant perfumes.
15 Fountains water the garden,
streams of flowing water,
brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.
The Woman
16 Wake up, North Wind.
South Wind, blow on my garden;
fill the air with fragrance.
Let my lover come to his garden
and eat the best of its fruits.
1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. 2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. 3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. 4 Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. 5 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. 6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. 7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
8 ¶ Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! 11 Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
16 ¶ Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.