Canticle of Canticles 4

¹ Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.

² 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.

³ Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁴ Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.

⁵ Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.

⁶ Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hie me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.

⁷ You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you.

⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

⁹ You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰ How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

¹¹ Your lips distil nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

¹² A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.

¹³ Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard,

¹⁴ nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices--

¹⁵ a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

¹⁶ Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.