Songs from the Song of Songs: Chapter VI

Whither is thy Beloved,
O, whither is He gone?
Thou fairest among women.
Why wander forth alone?
Whither is thy Beloved,
Ah, whither turn'd aside?

That we may seek Him with thee,
And hid Him near thee hide.
Down, down into His garden,
To beds of spices rare.
Is gone my Best-beloved
To gather lilies there.

For I am my Beloved's,
And my Beloved is mine;
He feeds among the lilies.
And wanders where they twine.
Thou, My Love, art beautiful.
As Tirzah thou art fair.

And comely as Jerusalem,
And terrible as war.
O, turn thine eyes away from Me,
Their tender light remove.
For they have overcome me.
And I am sick of love.

Thy hair is as a flock of goats
That over Gilead roam.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which from the washing come:
A flock of sheep, where every one
Hath lambs both twin and fair.

Among whose fleecy thousands
Not one is barren there;
And as a piece of pomegranate.
The earliest of the year,
The temples of thy glorious brows
Within thy locks appear.

Lo! threescore queens in splendour,
And concubines four score.
And virgins without number
Wait round the Bridegroom's door.
My Dove, my Undefiled is one!
Her mother's only child!

Choice one of her that bare her,
My Dove! My Undefiled!
The daughters saw and blest her.
The queens beheld and praised.
The concubines confest her
Above all others raised.

Who, who is she that looketh forth
Bright as the morning star,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.
And terrible as war?
I went into the garden,
Where nuts in clusters grow,

To see the valley's fruitage,
And how the vines do blow:
To see the budding pomegranates.
Or e'er I was aware,
The chariots of Amminadib
My soul did upward bear.

Daughters of Jerusalem,
Return, return, Shulamite,
Return, return, that we
Again may see thy beauty.
Again may look on thee.
What see ye in the Shulamite?

Two armies, as it were,
God's host, a blessed company.
Encamped round us there.