The Friends Speak to the Woman
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your lover turn?
We will look for him with you.
The Woman Answers the Friends
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to feed in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I belong to my lover,
and my lover belongs to me.
He feeds among the lilies.
The Man Speaks to the Woman
4 My darling, you are as beautiful as the city of Tirzah,
as lovely as the city of Jerusalem,
like an army flying flags.
5 Turn your eyes from me,
because they excite me too much.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are white like sheep
just coming from their bath;
each one has a twin,
and none of them is missing.
7 Your cheeks behind your veil
are like slices of a pomegranate.
8 There may be sixty queens and eighty slave women
and so many girls you cannot count them,
9 but there is only one like my dove, my perfect one.
She is her mother’s only daughter,
the brightest of the one who gave her birth.
The young women saw her and called her happy;
the queens and the slave women also praised her.
The Young Women Praise the Woman
10 Who is that young woman
that shines out like the dawn?
She is as pretty as the moon,
as bright as the sun,
as wonderful as an army flying flags.
The Man Speaks
11 I went down into the orchard of nut trees
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to look for buds on the vines,
to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed.
12 Before I realized it, my desire for you made me feel
like a prince in a chariot.
The Friends Call to the Woman
13 Come back, come back, woman of Shulam.
Come back, come back,
so we may look at you!
The Woman Answers the Friends
Why do you want to look at the woman of Shulam
as you would at the dance of two armies?
