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A beautiful woman

The young man:

How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
    my princess![a]
Your round hips are as beautiful as jewels
    that a clever worker has made.[b]
Your navel is like a round bowl
    that is always full of good wine.[c]
Your stomach is like a round heap of wheat
    with lilies around the edge.
Your breasts are like two young gazelles
    that are twins.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes shine like the pools in Heshbon
    that are near the Bath Rabbim gate.[d]
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
    that looks towards Damascus.[e]
Your head stands tall on you, like Mount Carmel.[f]
Your long hair hangs down like a royal cloth.
    It is so beautiful that it can make the king its prisoner!
You are very beautiful, my dear friend,
    and I love you.
You give a lot of pleasure to me.

You stand like a tall palm tree.
    Your breasts are like bunches of fruit that hang from the tree.[g]
I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.
    I will take hold of its fruit.’
For me, your breasts are like bunches of grapes.
    Your breath is like the sweet smell of apples.
For me, your mouth has the taste of the best wine.

The young woman:

May the wine pour out for my lover.
    May it pour over his lips and his teeth.
10 I belong to my lover,
    and he wants to be with me!

11 Come with me now, my lover!
    Let us go and walk through the fields.
    We can stay in the villages for the night.
12 We can get up early in the morning
    and go to the vineyards.
We can see if the vines have started to make new leaves.
    We can see if their flowers have opened.
    We can see if the pomegranate trees have flowers.
When we are there
    I will give my love to you.
13 The mandrake plants send out their sweet smell.
    At our door, there are many good things to eat.[h]
I have stored many good things that are both old and new.
    I have kept them all for you, my lover.

Footnotes

  1. 7:1 Sandals are light shoes that do not completely cover the person's feet. A princess is a daughter of a king or a queen.
  2. 7:1 The hips are the top part of a person's legs, where they join the body.
  3. 7:2 A person's navel is the place on their body where they were joined to their mother before birth.
  4. 7:4 Heshbon was a town in Israel.
  5. 7:4 Damascus was an important capital city.
  6. 7:5 Mount Carmel is a mountain in Israel.
  7. 7:7 A bunch of fruit is a group of fruits that are growing on the same piece of branch.
  8. 7:13 A mandrake is a plant that people eat. Its root has a shape like a human body. People thought that it helped them to enjoy sex. Sometimes people stored fruit over the door of their house. Then it would become dry, sweet fruit that people would enjoy.

Come sono belli i tuoi piedi nei calzari, o figlia di principe! Le curve dei tuoi fianchi sono come gioielli, opera di mano d'artista.

Il tuo ombelico è una coppa rotonda, ove non manca mai vino aromatico. Il tuo ventre è un mucchio di grano, circondato di gigli.

Le tue due mammelle sono come due cerbiatti, gemelli di gazzella.

Il tuo collo è come una torre d'avorio; i tuoi occhi sono come le piscine di Heshbon presso la porta di Bath-Rabbim. Il tuo naso è come la torre del Libano, che guarda verso Damasco.

Il tuo capo si eleva su di te come il Karmel e i capelli del tuo capo sono porpora; un re è fatto prigioniero dalle tue trecce.

Come sei bella e come sei leggiadra, o amore mio, con tutte le tue delizie!

La tua statura è simile alla palma, e le tue mammelle a grappoli.

Ho detto: «Salirò sulla palma e afferrerò i suoi rami». Siano le tue mammelle come i grappoli della vite, la fragranza del tuo alito come quello dei pomi,

e i baci della tua bocca come un vino squisito, che scende dolcemente per il mio diletto, sfiorando delicatamente le labbra di chi dorme.

10 Io sono del mio diletto, e il suo desiderio è verso di me.

11 Vieni, mio diletto, usciamo nei campi, passiamo la notte nei villaggi!

12 Alziamoci presto al mattino per andare nelle vigne e per vedere se la vite ha messo i germogli e i suoi fiori sono sbocciati, e se i melograni sono in fiore. Là ti darò il mio amore.

13 Le mandragole, effondono la loro fragranza, e sulle nostre porte ci sono frutti squisiti di ogni genere, freschi e appassiti, che ho conservato per te, mio diletto.