Add parallel Print Page Options

Lover

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

    Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
    Your hair is as a flock of goats,
    that descend from Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,
    which have come up from the washing,
    where every one of them has twins.
    None is bereaved among them.
Your lips are like scarlet thread.
    Your mouth is lovely.
    Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory,
    on which a thousand shields hang,
    all the shields of the mighty men.
Your two breasts are like two fawns
    that are twins of a roe,
    which feed among the lilies.

Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,
    I will go to the mountain of myrrh,
    to the hill of frankincense.

You are all beautiful, my love.
    There is no spot in you.

Read full chapter

The Young Woman’s Beauty Extolled

How beautiful you are, my love,
    how very beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
    behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
    moving down the slopes of Gilead.(A)
Your 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 is bereaved.(B)
Your lips are like a crimson thread,
    and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.(C)
Your neck is like the tower of David,
    built in courses;
on it hang a thousand bucklers,
    all of them shields of warriors.(D)
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
    twins of a gazelle,
    that feed among the lilies.(E)
Until the day breathes
    and the shadows flee,
I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.(F)
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no flaw in you.(G)

Read full chapter