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(Song of Solomon)
BEHOLD thou art all fair, my love; | |
| Thine eyes, thy locks, thy brow | |
| All excellence and comeliness— | |
| How beautiful art thou! | |
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| Stately thy neck, like David’s tower, | 5 |
| With splendor overspread; | |
| Whereon a thousand bucklers hang, | |
| Shields of the mighty dead. | |
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| Till the day break and shadows flee, | |
| Myself betake I will | 10 |
| To the spice-mountain’s fragrant heights, | |
| And incense-breathing hill. | |
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| Thou art beautiful, my love, | |
| There is no spot in thee; | |
| Come then, my bride, from Lebanon, | 15 |
| From Lebanon with me! | |
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| Look from Amana’s summit, look | |
| While I am by thy side; | |
| Look from the top of Shinar, look | |
| From Hermon, look, my bride! | 20 |
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| Love, sister, bride, thy beauty hath | |
| Ravished this heart of mine! | |
| Won it thou hast, and now it is | |
| No longer mine, but thine! | |
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| Sister and spouse, how fair thy love, | 25 |
| How better far than mine! | |
| Thy fragrance steals my heart; it is | |
| No longer mine, but thine! | |
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| Thy lips are sweetness, and thy words | |
| Are pleasantness each one; | 30 |
| Thy very raiment breatheth forth | |
| The breath of Lebanon. | |
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| A garden is my sister-bride, | |
| A paradise shut in; | |
| A guardian spring, a fountain sealed, | 35 |
| With water pure within. | |
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| Thine are the pleasant fruits and flowers, | |
| Beneath, around, above; | |
| Spikenard and balm, and myrrh and spice, | |
| A paradise of love. | 40 |
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| Thine are the springs, which freshly o’er | |
| A thousand gardens run, | |
| The well of living waters Thou, | |
| And streams from Lebanon. | |
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| Awake, O north wind; come, thou south, | 45 |
| Upon my garden blow! | |
| So shall the happy fragrance out | |
| From all its spices flow. | |
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| Then forth through all His Paradise, | |
| Let my beloved rove, | 50 |
| To breathe the gladness of its air | |
| And eat His fruits of love. | |
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