To The Word – Day 72

₂Your lips cover me with kisses;

your love is better than wine.

₃There is a fragrance about you;

the sound of your name recalls it.

No woman could help loving you.

₄Take me with you, and we'll run away;

be my king and take me to your room.

We will be happy together,

drink deep, and lose ourselves in love.

No wonder all women love you!

₅Women of Jerusalem, I am dark but beautiful,

dark as the desert tents of Kedar,

but beautiful as the curtains in Solomon's palace.

₆Don't look down on me because of my colour,

because the sun has tanned me.

My brothers were angry with me

and made me work in the vineyard.

I had no time to care for myself.

₇Tell me, my love,

Where will you lead your flock to graze?

Where will they rest from the noonday sun?

Why should I need to look for you

among the flocks of the other shepherds?

₈Don't you know the place, loveliest of women?

Go and follow the flock;

find pasture for your goats

near the tents of the shepherds.

₉You, my love, excite men

as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots.

₁₀Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks

and falls along your neck like jewels.

₁₁But we will make for you a chain of gold

with ornaments of silver.

₁₂My king was lying on his couch,

and my perfume filled the air with fragrance.

₁₃My lover has the scent of myrrh

as he lies upon my breasts.

₁₄My lover is like the wild flowers

that bloom in the vineyards at Engedi.

₁₅How beautiful you are, my love;

how your eyes shine with love!

₁₆How handsome you are, my dearest;

how you delight me!

The green grass will be our bed;

₁₇the cedars will be the beams of our house,

and the cypress trees the ceiling.

₁I am only a wild flower in Sharon,

a lily in a mountain valley.

₂Like a lily among thorns

is my darling among women.

₃Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my dearest compared with other men.

I love to sit in its shadow,

and its fruit is sweet to my taste.

₄He brought me to his banqueting hall

and raised the banner of love over me.

₅Restore my strength with raisins

and refresh me with apples!

I am weak from passion.

₆His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand caresses me.

₇Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.

₈I hear my lover's voice.

He comes running over the mountains,

racing across the hills to me.

₉My lover is like a gazelle,

like a young stag.

There he stands beside the wall.

He looks in through the window

and glances through the lattice.

₁₀My lover speaks to me.

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

₁₁The winter is over; the rains have stopped;

₁₂in the countryside the flowers are in bloom.

This is the time for singing;

the song of doves is heard in the fields.

₁₃Figs are beginning to ripen;

the air is fragrant with blossoming vines.

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

₁₄You are like a dove that hides

in the crevice of a rock.

Let me see your lovely face

and hear your enchanting voice.

₁₅Catch the foxes, the little foxes,

before they ruin our vineyard in bloom.

₁₆My lover is mine, and I am his.

He feeds his flock among the lilies

₁₇until the morning breezes blow

and the darkness disappears.

Return, my darling, like a gazelle,

like a stag on the mountains of Bether.

₁Asleep on my bed, night after night

I dreamt of the one I love;

I was looking for him, but couldn't find him.

₂I went wandering through the city,

through its streets and alleys.

I looked for the one I love.

I looked, but couldn't find him.

₃The watchmen patrolling the city saw me.

I asked them, “Have you found my lover?”

₄As soon as I left them, I found him.

I held him and wouldn't let him go

until I took him to my mother's house,

to the room where I was born.

₅Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.

₆What is this coming from the desert like a column of smoke,

fragrant with incense and myrrh,

the incense sold by the traders?

₇Solomon is coming, carried on his throne;

sixty soldiers form the bodyguard,

the finest soldiers in Israel.

₈All of them are skilful with the sword;

they are battle-hardened veterans.

Each of them is armed with a sword,

on guard against a night attack.

₉King Solomon is carried on a throne

made of the finest wood.

₁₀Its posts are covered with silver;

over it is cloth embroidered with gold.

Its cushions are covered with purple cloth,

lovingly woven by the women of Jerusalem.

₁₁Women of Zion, come and see King Solomon.

He is wearing the crown that his mother placed on his head

on his wedding day,

on the day of his gladness and joy.

₁How beautiful you are, my love!

How your eyes shine with love behind your veil.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

₂Your teeth are as white as sheep

that have just been shorn and washed.

Not one of them is missing;

they are all perfectly matched.

₃Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;

how lovely they are when you speak.

Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

₄Your neck is like the tower of David,

round and smooth,

with a necklace like a thousand shields hung round it.

₅Your breasts are like gazelles,

twin deer feeding among lilies.

₆I will stay on the hill of myrrh,

the hill of incense,

until the morning breezes blow

and the darkness disappears.

₇How beautiful you are, my love;

how perfect you are!

₈Come with me from the Lebanon Mountains, my bride;

come with me from Lebanon.

Come down from the top of Mount Amana,

from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon,

where the lions and leopards live.

₉The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride,

and the necklace you are wearing

have stolen my heart.

₁₀Your love delights me,

my sweetheart and bride.

Your love is better than wine;

your perfume more fragrant than any spice.

₁₁The taste of honey is on your lips, my darling;

your tongue is milk and honey for me.

Your clothing has all the fragrance of Lebanon.

₁₂My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden,

a walled garden, a private spring;

₁₃there the plants flourish.

They grow like an orchard of pomegranate trees

and bear the finest fruits.

There is no lack of henna and nard,

₁₄of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon,

or incense of every kind.

Myrrh and aloes grow there

with all the most fragrant perfumes.

₁₅Fountains water the garden,

streams of flowing water,

brooks gushing down from the Lebanon Mountains.

₁₆Wake up, North Wind.

South Wind, blow on my garden;

fill the air with fragrance.

Let my lover come to his garden

and eat the best of its fruits.

₁I have entered my garden,

my sweetheart, my bride.

I am gathering my spices and myrrh;

I am eating my honey and honeycomb;

I am drinking my wine and milk.

Eat, lovers, and drink

until you are drunk with love!

₂While I slept, my heart was awake.

I dreamt my lover knocked at the door.

Let me come in, my darling,

my sweetheart, my dove.

My head is wet with dew,

and my hair is damp from the mist.

₃I have already undressed;

why should I get dressed again?

I have washed my feet;

why should I get them dirty again?

₄My lover put his hand to the door,

and I was thrilled that he was near.

₅I was ready to let him come in.

My hands were covered with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

as I grasped the handle of the door.

₆I opened the door for my lover,

but he had already gone.

How I wanted to hear his voice!

I looked for him, but couldn't find him;

I called to him, but heard no answer.

₇The watchmen patrolling the city found me;

they struck me and bruised me;

the guards at the city wall tore off my cape.

₈Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that if you find my lover,

you will tell him I am weak from passion.

₉Most beautiful of women,

is your lover different from everyone else?

What is there so wonderful about him

that we should give you our promise?

₁₀My lover is handsome and strong;

he is one in 10,000.

₁₁His face is bronzed and smooth;

his hair is wavy,

black as a raven.

₁₂His eyes are as beautiful as doves by a flowing brook,

doves washed in milk and standing by the stream.

₁₃His cheeks are as lovely as a garden

that is full of herbs and spices.

His lips are like lilies,

wet with liquid myrrh.

₁₄His hands are well formed,

and he wears rings set with gems.

His body is like smooth ivory,

with sapphires set in it.

₁₅His thighs are columns of alabaster

set in sockets of gold.

He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains

with their towering cedars.

₁₆His mouth is sweet to kiss;

everything about him enchants me.

This is what my lover is like,

women of Jerusalem.

₁Most beautiful of women,

where has your lover gone?

Tell us which way your lover went,

so that we can help you find him.

₂My lover has gone to his garden,

where the balsam trees grow.

He is feeding his flock in the garden

and gathering lilies.

₃My lover is mine, and I am his;

he feeds his flock among the lilies.

₄My love, you are as beautiful as Jerusalem,

as lovely as the city of Tirzah,

as breathtaking as these great cities.

₅Turn your eyes away from me;

they are holding me captive.

Your hair dances, like a flock of goats

bounding down the hills of Gilead.

₆Your teeth are as white as a flock of sheep

that have just been washed.

Not one of them is missing;

they are all perfectly matched.

₇Your cheeks glow behind your veil.

₈Let the king have sixty queens, eighty concubines,

young women without number!

₉But I love only one,

and she is as lovely as a dove.

She is her mother's only daughter,

her mother's favourite child.

All women look at her and praise her;

queens and concubines sing her praises.

₁₀Who is this whose glance is like the dawn?

She is beautiful and bright,

as dazzling as the sun or the moon.

₁₁I have come down among the almond trees

to see the young plants in the valley,

to see the new leaves on the vines

and the blossoms on the pomegranate trees.

₁₂I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love

as a chariot driver is for battle.

₁₃Dance, dance, girl of Shulam.

Let us watch you as you dance.

Why do you want to watch me

as I dance between the rows of onlookers?

₁What a wonderful woman you are!

How beautiful are your feet in sandals.

The curve of your thighs

is like the work of an artist.

₂A bowl is there,

that never runs out of spiced wine.

A sheaf of wheat is there,

surrounded by lilies.

₃Your breasts are like twin deer,

like two gazelles.

₄Your neck is like a tower of ivory.

Your eyes are like the pools in the city of Heshbon,

near the gate of that great city.

Your nose is as lovely as the tower of Lebanon

that stands guard at Damascus.

₅Your head is held high like Mount Carmel.

Your braided hair shines like the finest satin;

its beauty could hold a king captive.

₆How pretty you are, how beautiful;

how complete the delights of your love.

₇You are as graceful as a palm tree,

and your breasts are clusters of dates.

₈I will climb the palm tree

and pick its fruit.

To me your breasts are like bunches of grapes,

your breath like the fragrance of apples,

₉and your mouth like the finest wine.

Then let the wine flow straight to my lover,

flowing over his lips and teeth.

₁₀I belong to my lover, and he desires me.

₁₁Come, darling, let's go out to the countryside

and spend the night in the villages.

₁₂We will get up early and look at the vines

to see whether they've started to grow,

whether the blossoms are opening

and the pomegranate trees are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

₁₃You can smell the scent of mandrakes,

and all the pleasant fruits are near our door.

Darling, I have kept for you

the old delights and the new.

₁I wish that you were my brother,

that my mother had nursed you at her breast.

Then, if I met you in the street,

I could kiss you and no one would mind.

₂I would take you to my mother's house,

where you could teach me love.

I would give you spiced wine,

my pomegranate wine to drink.

₃Your left hand is under my head,

and your right hand caresses me.

₄Promise me, women of Jerusalem,

that you will not interrupt our love.

₅Who is this coming from the desert,

arm in arm with her lover?

Under the apple tree I woke you,

in the place where you were born.

₆Close your heart to every love but mine;

hold no one in your arms but me.

Love is as powerful as death;

passion is as strong as death itself.

It bursts into flame

and burns like a raging fire.

₇Water cannot put it out;

no flood can drown it.

But if anyone tried to buy love with wealth,

contempt is all they would get.

₈We have a young sister,

and her breasts are still small.

What will we do for her

when a young man comes courting?

₉If she is a wall,

we will build her a silver tower.

But if she is a gate,

we will protect her with panels of cedar.

₁₀I am a wall,

and my breasts are its towers.

My lover knows that with him

I find contentment and peace.

₁₁Solomon has a vineyard

in a place called Baal Hamon.

There are farmers who rent it from him;

each one pays a thousand silver coins.

₁₂Solomon is welcome to his thousand coins,

and the farmers to 200 as their share;

I have a vineyard of my own!

₁₃Let me hear your voice from the garden, my love;

my companions are waiting to hear you speak.

₁₄Come to me, my lover, like a gazelle,

like a young stag on the mountains where spices grow.