1 Which way did your lover go,you who are the most beautiful of women?Which way did your lover turn,that we may look for him along with you?[Woman]
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,to the fragrant plantings,to graze in the gardens,to gather the lilies.
3 I belong to my lover and my lover belongs to me—the one grazing among the lilies.[Man]
4 You are as beautiful, my dearest, as Tirzah,as lovely as Jerusalem,formidable as those lofty sights.
5 Turn your eyes away from me,for they overwhelm me!Your hair is like a flock of goatsas they stream down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewesas they come up from the washing pool—all of them perfectly matched,not one of them lacks its twin.
7 Like a slice of pomegranate is the curve of your facebehind the veil of your hair.
8 There may be sixty queensand eighty secondary wives,young women beyond counting,
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is one of a kind.To her mother she’s the only one,radiant to the one who bore her.Young women see her and declare her fortunate;queens and secondary wives praise her.
10 Who is this, gazing down like the morning star,beautiful as the full moon,radiant as the sun,formidable as those lofty sights?[Man]
11 To the nut grove I went downto look upon the fresh growth in the valley,to see whether the vine was in flower,whether the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 I hardly knew myself;she had set me in an official’s chariot![Man]
13 Come back, come back, Shulammite!Come back, come back, so we may admire you.How you all admire the Shulammiteas she whirls between two circles of dancers!