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?