Canticle of Canticles 6

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Where has your lover gone,	1 CHORUS: Where did your lover go, O loveliest of women? Which way did your lover turn so that we canhelp you seek him?
2 My lover has come down to his garden,	2 BELOVED: My love went down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock on the grass andgather lilies.
3 My lover belongs to me and I to him;	3 I belong to my love, and my love to me. He pastures his flock among the lilies.
4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my beloved,	4 LOVER: You are fair as Tirzah, my beloved, enchanting as Jerusalem, formidable as an army!
5 Turn your eyes from me,	5 Turn your eyes away from me, they take me by assault! Your hair is like a flock of goats surging downthe slopes of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes	6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes as they come up from being washed. Each one has its twin, not oneunpaired with another.
7 Your cheek is like a half-pomegranate	7 Your cheeks, behind your veil, are halves of pomegranate.
8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,	8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines (and countless girls).
9 One alone is my dove, my perfect one,	9 My dove is my only one, perfect and mine. She is the darling of her mother, the favourite of the one whobore her. Girls have seen her and proclaimed her blessed, queens and concubines have sung her praises,
10 Who is this that comes forth like the dawn,	10 'Who is this arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, formidable as an army?'
11 I came down to the nut garden	11 I went down to the nut orchard to see the fresh shoots in the val ey, to see if the vines were buddingand the pomegranate trees in flower.
12 Before I knew it, my heart had made me	12 Before I knew . . . my desire had hurled me onto the chariots of Amminadib!