He Speaks to Her
1My darling, you are so beautiful!
Oh, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are like doves
under your veil.
Your hair is long and flowing,
like little goats dancing down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
2Your teeth are white like ewes
just coming from their bath.
They all give birth to twins;
not one of them has lost a baby.
3Your lips are like a red silk thread.
Your mouth is beautiful.
Your cheeks under your veil
are like two slices of pomegranate.
4Your neck is long and thin
like David’s tower.
That tower was built to be decorated
with a thousand shields on its walls,
with the shields of powerful soldiers.
5Your breasts are like twin fawns,
like twins of a gazelle,
feeding among the lilies.
6I will go to that mountain of myrrh
and to that hill of frankincense
while the day breathes its last breath,
and the shadows run away.
7My darling, you are beautiful all over.
Every part of you is perfect.
8Come with me, my bride, from Lebanon.
Come with me from Lebanon.
Come from the peak of Amana,
from the top of Senir and Hermon,
from the lion’s caves,
from the mountain of the leopards.
9My darling, my bride, you excite me!
You have stolen my heart with just one quick look from your eyes,
with just one of the jewels from your necklace.
10Your love is so beautiful, my darling, my bride!
Your love is better than wine.
The smell of your perfume
is better than any kind of spice!
11My bride, your lips drip honey.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
Your clothes smell as sweet as perfume.
12My darling, my bride,
you are pure like a locked garden.
You are like a locked pool,
a closed fountain.
13Your limbs are like a garden
filled with pomegranates and other pleasant fruit,
with all the best spices:
henna, 14nard, saffron, calamus, and cinnamon.
Your limbs are like a garden
filled with trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloe.
15You are like a garden fountain—
a well of fresh water—
flowing down from the mountains of Lebanon.
She Speaks
16Wake up, north wind.
Come, south wind.
Blow on my garden.
Spread its sweet smell.
Let my lover enter his garden
and eat its pleasant fruit.