T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Loves Garden
Song of Solomon IV(Arranged by Sir James George Frazer, 1895) BEHOLD, thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; | |
Thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: | |
Thy hair is as a flock of goats, | |
That appear from mount Gilead. | |
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, | 5 |
Which came up from the washing; | |
Whereof every one bear twins, | |
And none is barren among them. | |
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, | |
And thy speech is comely: | 10 |
Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate | |
Within thy locks. | |
Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armory, | |
Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, | |
All shields of mighty men. | 15 |
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, | |
Which feed among the lilies. | |
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, | |
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, | |
And to the hill of frankincense. | 20 |
Thou art all fair, my love; | |
There is no spot in thee. | |
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, | |
With me from Lebanon: | |
Look from the top of Amana, | 25 |
From the top of Shenir and Hermon, | |
From the lions’ dens, | |
From the mountains of the leopards. | |
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; | |
Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, | 30 |
With one chain of thy neck. | |
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! | |
How much better is thy love than wine! | |
And the smell of thine ointments than all spices! | |
Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: | 35 |
Honey and milk are under thy tongue; | |
And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. | |
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; | |
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. | |
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits: | 40 |
Camphire, with spikenard, | |
Spikenard and saffron; | |
Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; | |
Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: | |
A fountain of gardens, | 45 |
A well of living waters, | |
And streams from Lebanon. | |
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south: | |
Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. | |
Let my beloved come into his garden, | 50 |
And eat his pleasant fruits. | |