Daily Bread

⁴ You are as beautiful as Tirzah,^(A) my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,^(B)
    as majestic as troops with banners.^(C)
5 Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.^(D)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.^(E)
7 Your temples behind your veil^(F)
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.^(G)
8 Sixty queens^(H) there may be,
    and eighty concubines,^(I)
    and virgins beyond number;
⁹ but my dove,^(J) my perfect one,^(K) is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favorite of the one who bore her.^(L)
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines praised her.

¹⁰ Who is this that appears like the dawn,
    fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
    majestic as the stars in procession?

¹¹ I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.^(M)
12 Before I realized it,
    my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.^[a]

¹³ Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
    come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance^(N) of Mahanaim?^[b]

May the wine go straight to my beloved,^(Y)
    flowing gently over lips and teeth.^[d]