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Solomon's Love Expressed

(The Bridegroom)

¹ "How fair and beautiful ^(C1)you are, my darling,
How very beautiful!
Your ^(C2)eyes ^(C3)behind your veil are like those of a dove;
Your ^(C4)hair is like the shimmering black fleece of a flock of Arabian goats
That have descended from Mount ^(C5)Gilead beyond the Jordan.

² "Your ^(C1)teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes
Which have come up from washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.

³ "Your lips are like a ribbon of ^(C1)scarlet,
And your ^(C2)mouth is lovely.
Your ^(C3)temples are like a slice of the pomegranate
Behind your veil.

⁴ "Your ^(C1)neck is like the tower of David,
Built with rows of glistening stones,
Whereon ^(C2)hang a thousand shields,
All of them ^(C3)shields of warriors.

⁵ "Your ^(C1)two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle
Which ^(C2)feed among the lilies.

⁶ "^(C1)Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away,
In my thoughts I will go my way to the mountain of ^(C2)myrrh
And to the hill of ^(C2)frankincense.

⁷ "^(C1)O my love, you are altogether beautiful and fair.
There is no flaw nor blemish in you! ^(VR1)

⁸ "Come away with me from ^(C1)Lebanon, my promised ^(C2)bride,
May you come with me from Lebanon.
Journey down from the top of ^(C3)Amana,
From the summit of ^(C4)Senir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions,
From the mountains of leopards. ^(VR1)

⁹ "You have ravished my heart and given me courage, ^(C1)my sister, my promised bride;
You have ravished my heart and given me courage with a single glance of your eyes,
With one jewel of your ^(C2)necklace.

¹⁰ "^(C1)How beautiful is your love, my sister, my promised bride!
How much ^(C2)better is your love than wine,
And the ^(C3)fragrance of your oils
Than all kinds of balsam and spices. ^(VR1)

¹¹ "Your lips, my promised bride, ^(C1)drip ^(C2)honey as the honeycomb;
Honey and milk are under your tongue,
And the fragrance of your garments is like the ^(C3)fragrance of Lebanon.

¹² "A garden enclosed is my sister, my promised bride—
A rock garden locked, a ^(C1)spring ^(C2)sealed up.

¹³ "Your shoots are an ^(C1)orchard of ^(C2)pomegranates,
A paradise with ^(C3)precious fruits, ^(C4)henna with fragrant plants, ^(VR1)

^14 (C1)Fragrant plants and saffron, calamus and ^(C2)cinnamon,
With all trees of ^(C3)frankincense,
^(C4)Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

¹⁵ "You are a fountain in a garden,
A well of ^(C1)fresh and living water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon." ^(VR1)

(The Shulammite Bride)

¹⁶ "Awake, O north wind,
And come, south wind blow softly upon my ^(C1)garden;
Make my garden breathe out fragrance, for the one in whom my soul delights,
Let its spices flow forth.
Let ^(C2)my beloved come into his garden
And eat its ^(C3)choicest fruits."