Song of Songs

XVI. Memories 1Where has your lover gone,most beautiful woman?Where has your lover turned,that we may help you look for him?

My lover has gone down to his garden,to the beds of spices,to pasture his flock in the garden and to gather lilies.

My lover is mine, and I am his;he shepherds his flock among the lilies.

* * *4My love, you are lovely as Tirzah, beautiful as Jerusalem,majestic as bannered troops.

Turn your eyes away from me for they bewitch me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down the heights of Gilead.

Your teeth are like sheep coming in droves from the washing, each one opposing its twin, not one has been left alone.

Your cheeks behind your veil are like halves of a pomegranate.

XVII. The Abducted Wife 8Sixty queens, eighty concubines, virgins beyond number—

but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter and favorite of her mother.She was called blessed by the virgins and praised by queens and concubines:

“Who is this coming like the dawn,fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as bannered troops?”

I went to the nut orchard to look over the valley in bloom, to see if the vines had flowered,or if the pomegranates had blossomed.

Before I became aware of it, my desire had set me on the chariot with the daughter of the prince.