[Daughters of Jerusalem] [Woman]

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?

² My lover has gone down to his garden, to the fragrant plantings, to graze in the gardens, to gather the lilies.

An overwhelming sight

[Man]

³ I belong to my lover and my lover belongs to me— the one grazing among the lilies.

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 goats as they stream down from Gilead.

⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes as 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 face behind the veil of your hair.

⁸ There may be sixty queens and 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.

Transported

[Man]

¹⁰ Who is this, gazing down like the morning star, beautiful as the full moon, radiant as the sun, formidable as those lofty sights?

¹¹ To the nut grove I went down to look upon the fresh growth in the valley, to see whether the vine was in flower, whether the pomegranates had bloomed.

Graceful dancer

[Man]

¹² I hardly knew myself; she had set me in an official’s chariot!

¹³ Come back, come back, Shulammite! Come back, come back, so we may admire you. How you all admire the Shulammite as she whirls between two circles of dancers!