In praise of her

¹Look at you—so beautiful, my dearest!

Look at you—so beautiful! Your eyes are doves

Your hair is like a flock of goats

²Your teeth are like newly shorn ewes

³Like a crimson ribbon are your lips;

Like a slice of pomegranate is the curve of your face

⁴Like David’s tower is your neck,

A thousand shields are hung upon it—

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns,

⁶Before the day breeze blows

⁷You are utterly beautiful, my dearest;

Garden of delight

⁸Come down with me from Lebanon, my bride—

Descend from the peak of Amana,

⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride![#4.9 here and below is a common term in ancient love poetry; it doesn't imply blood relation.]

¹⁰How beautiful is your loving, my sister, my bride!

¹¹Sweetness drops from your lips, my bride;

and the fragrance of your garments

¹²An enclosed garden is my sister, my bride;

¹³Your limbs are an orchard of pomegranates

¹⁵You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water,

¹⁶Stir, north wind, and come, south wind!

Let my love come to his garden;