The Renewal of Love

The Lover to His Beloved:

4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,

as lovely as Jerusalem,

as awe-inspiring as bannered armies!

5 Turn your eyes away from me –

they overwhelm me!

Your hair is like a flock of goats

descending from Mount Gilead.

6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep

coming up from the washing;

each has its twin;

not one of them is missing.

7 Like a slice of pomegranate

is your forehead behind your veil.

8 There may be sixty queens,

and eighty concubines,

and young women without number.

9 But she is unique!

My dove, my perfect one!

She is the special daughter of her mother,

she is the favorite of the one who bore her.

The maidens saw her and complimented her;

the queens and concubines praised her:

10 “Who is this who appears like the dawn?

Beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,

awe-inspiring as the stars in procession?”