1. I went to my garden, dear friend, best lover!breathed the sweet fragrance.I ate the fruit and honey,I drank the nectar and wine.Celebrate with me, friends!Raise your glasses—“To life! To love!”
10-16. My dear lover glows with health—red-blooded, radiant!He’s one in a million.There’s no one quite like him!My golden one, pure and untarnished,with raven black curls tumbling across his shoulders.His eyes are like doves, soft and bright,but deep-set, brimming with meaning, like wells of water.His face is rugged, his beard smells like sage,His voice, his words, warm and reassuring.Fine muscles ripple beneath his skin,quiet and beautiful.His torso is the work of a sculptor,hard and smooth as ivory.He stands tall, like a cedar,strong and deep-rooted,A rugged mountain of a man,aromatic with wood and stone.His words are kisses, his kisses words.Everything about him delights me, thrills methrough and through!That’s my lover, that’s my man,dear Jerusalem sisters.