1 Return, return, O Shulammite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulammite? As it were a dance of two companies.
2 How beautiful are thy steps in sandals, O prince’s daughter! The roundings of thy thighs are like the links of a chain, The work of the hands of a skilled workman.
3 Thy navel is like a round goblet, wherein no mingled wine is wanting; Thy belly is like a heap of wheat Set about with lilies.
4 Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle.
5 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, By the gate of Bath-rabbim; Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon Which looketh toward Damascus.
6 Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple; The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.
7 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! .
8 This thy stature is like to a palm-tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
9 I said: ‘I will climb up into the palm-tree, I will take hold of the branches thereof; and let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, And the smell of thy countenance like apples;
10 And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine, That glideth down smoothly for my beloved, moving gently the lips of those that are asleep.’
11 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
12 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
13 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine hath budded, whether the vine-blossom be opened, and the pomegranates be in flower; there will I give thee my love.
14 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.