What a Beautiful Bride
He Speaks:
1 My darling, you are lovely,
so very lovely—
as you look through your veil,
your eyes are those of a dove.
Your hair tosses about
as gracefully as goats
coming down from Gilead.
2 Your teeth are whiter
than sheep freshly washed;
they match perfectly,
not one is missing.
3 Your lips are crimson cords,
your mouth is shapely;
behind your veil are hidden
beautiful rosy cheeks.
4 Your neck is more graceful
than the tower of David,
decorated with thousands
of warriors' shields.
5 Your breasts are perfect;
they are twin deer
feeding among lilies.
6 I will hasten to those hills
sprinkled with sweet perfume
and stay there till sunrise.
7 My darling, you are lovely
in every way.
8 My bride, together
we will leave Lebanon!
We will say goodbye
to the peaks of Mount Amana,
Senir, and Hermon,
where lions and leopards
live in the caves.
9 My bride, my very own,
you have stolen my heart!
With one glance from your eyes
and the glow of your necklace,
you have stolen my heart.
10 Your love is sweeter than wine;
the smell of your perfume
is more fragrant than spices.
11 Your lips are a honeycomb;
milk and honey
flow from your tongue.
Your dress has the aroma
of cedar trees from Lebanon.
12 My bride, my very own,
you are a garden, a fountain
closed off to all others.
13 Your arms are vines,
covered with delicious fruits
and all sorts of spices—
henna, nard, 14 saffron,
calamus, cinnamon,
frankincense, myrrh, and aloes
—all the finest spices.
15 You are a spring in the garden,
a fountain of pure water,
and a refreshing stream
from Mount Lebanon.
She Speaks:
16 Let the north wind blow,
the south wind too!
Let them spread the aroma
of my garden,
so the one I love
may enter and taste
its delicious fruits.
1 Behold, thou art faire, my loue: behold, thou art faire: thine eyes are like the doues: among thy lockes thine heare is like the flocke of goates, which looke downe from the mountaine of Gilead. 2 Thy teeth are like a flocke of sheepe in good order, which go vp from the washing: which euery one bring out twinnes, and none is barren among them. 3 Thy lippes are like a threede of scarlet, and thy talke is comely: thy temples are within thy lockes as a piece of a pomegranate. 4 Thy necke is as the tower of Dauid builte for defence: a thousand shieldes hang therein, and all the targates of the strong men. 5 Thy two breastes are as two young roes that are twinnes, feeding among the lilies. 6 Vntill the day breake, and the shadowes flie away, I wil go into the mountaine of myrrhe and to the mountaine of incense. 7 Thou art all faire, my loue, and there is no spot in thee. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, euen with me from Lebanon, and looke from the toppe of Amanah, from the toppe of Shenir and Hermon, from the dennes of the lyons, and from the mountaines of the leopards. 9 My sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded mine heart: thou hast wounded mine heart with one of thine eyes, and with a chaine of thy necke. 10 My sister, my spouse, how faire is thy loue? howe much better is thy loue then wine? and the sauour of thine oyntments then all spices? 11 Thy lippes, my spouse, droppe as honie combes: honie and milke are vnder thy tongue, and the sauoure of thy garments is as the sauoure of Lebanon. 12 My sister my spouse is as a garden inclosed, as a spring shut vp, and a fountaine sealed vp. 13 Thy plantes are as an orchard of pomegranates with sweete fruites, as camphire, spikenarde, 14 Euen spikenarde, and saffran, calamus, and cynamon with all the trees of incense, myrrhe and aloes, with all the chiefe spices. 15 O fountaine of the gardens, O well of liuing waters, and the springs of Lebanon. 16 Arise, O North, and come O South, and blowe on my garden that the spices thereof may flow out: let my welbeloued come to his garden, and eate his pleasant fruite.