Canticle of Canticles 1

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Solomon's Song of Songs:	1
2 BELOVED: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love-making is sweeter than wine;	2 Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!
3 delicate is the fragrance of your perfume, your name is an oil poured out, and that is why girls love you.	3 Your name spoken is a spreading perfume-
4 Draw me in your footsteps, let us run. The king has brought me into his rooms; you wil be our joy andour gladness. We shal praise your love more than wine; how right it is to love you.	4 Draw me!-
5 BELOVED: I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the pavilions of Salmah.	5 I am as dark-but lovely,
6 Take no notice of my dark colouring, it is the sun that has burnt me. My mother's sons turned their angeron me, they made me look after the vineyards. My own vineyard I had not looked after!	6 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,
7 Tel me then, sweetheart, where wil you lead your flock to graze, where will you rest it at noon? That Imay no more wander like a vagabond beside the flocks of your companions.	7 Tell me, you whom my heart loves,
8 CHORUS: If you do not know this, O loveliest of women, fol ow the tracks of the flock, and take your kidsto graze close by the shepherds' tents.	8 If you do not know,
9 LOVER: I compare you, my love, to my mare harnessed to Pharaoh's chariot.	9 To the steeds of Pharaoh's chariots
10 Your cheeks show fair between their pendants and your neck within its necklaces.	10 Your cheeks lovely in pendants,
11 We shall make you golden earrings and beads of silver.	11 We will make pendants of gold for you,
12 DUO: -While the king rests in his own room my nard yields its perfume.	12 For the king's banquet
13 My love is a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.	13 My lover is for me a sachet of myrrh
14 My love is a cluster of henna flowers among the vines of En-Gedi.	14 My lover is for me a cluster of henna
15 -How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves.	15 Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
16 -How beautiful you are, my love, and how you delight me! Our bed is the greensward.	16 Ah, you are beautiful, my lover-
17 -The beams of our house are cedar trees, its panel ing the cypress.	17 the beams of our house are cedars,