How very beautiful!

  Behind your veil,

  your eyes are doves.a

  Your hair is like a flock of goats

  streaming down Mount Gilead.b

  2Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep

  coming up from washing,

  each one having a twin,

  and not one missing.c, d

  3Your lips are like a scarlet cord,e

  and your mouthf is lovely.

  Behind your veil,

  your browg is like a slice of pomegranate.h

  4Your neck is like the tower of David,i

  constructed in layers.

  A thousand bucklers are hung on it —

  all of them shields of warriors.j

  5Your breasts are like two fawns,

  twins of a gazelle,k that feed among the lilies.

  6Before the day breaksl

  and the shadows flee,m

  I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh

  and the hill of frankincense.n

  7You are absolutely beautiful,o my darling,

  with no imperfection in you.

  8Come with me from Lebanon,p, q my brider —

  with me from Lebanon!

  Descend from the peak of Amana,

  from the summit of Senir and Hermon,s

  from the dens of the lions,

  from the mountains of the leopards.

  9You have captured my heart,t my sister,u, v my bride.

  You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,

  with one jewel of your necklace.

  10How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride.

  Your love is much better than wine,w

  and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

  11Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.x

  Honey and milky are under your tongue.

  The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

  12My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden —

  a locked gardenz and a sealed spring.aa

  13Your branches are a paradiseab of pomegranates

  with choicest fruits,ac

  henna with nard —

  14nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,ad

  with all the trees of frankincense,ae

  myrrh and aloes,af

  with all the best spices.

  15You are a garden spring,

  a well of flowing waterag

  streaming from Lebanon.

W 16Awaken,ah north wind —

  come, south wind.

  Blow on my garden,

  and spread the fragrance of its spices.

  Let my love come to his garden

  and eat its choicest fruits.ai