Canticum Canticorum 6

1 Quo abiit dilectus tuus o pulcherrima mulierum? Quo declinavit dilectus tuus, et quæremus eum tecum?

Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

2 Dilectus meus descendit in hortum suum ad areolam aromatum, ut pascatur in hortis, et lilia colligat.

My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3 Ego dilecto meo, et dilectus meus mihi, qui pascitur inter lilia.

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies.

4 Pulchra es amica mea, suavis, et decora sicut Ierusalem: terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.

You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

5 Averte oculos tuos a me, quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt. Capilli tui sicut grex caprarum, quæ apparuerunt de Galaad.

Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.

6 Dentes tui sicut grex ovium, quæ ascenderunt de lavacro, omnes gemellis fœtibus, et sterilis non est in eis.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins; not one is bereaved among them.

7 Sicut cortex mali Punici, sic genæ tuæ absque occultis tuis.

Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

8 Sexaginta sunt reginæ, et octoginta concubinæ, et adolescentularum non est numerus.

There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

9 Una est columba mea, perfecta mea, una est matris suæ, electa genetrici suæ. Viderunt eam filiæ, et beatissimam prædicaverunt: reginæ et concubinæ, et laudaverunt eam.

My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed. The queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her.

10 Quæ est ista, quæ progreditur quasi aurora consurgens, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata?

Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

11 Descendi in hortum nucum, ut viderem poma convallium, et inspicerem si floruisset vinea, et germinassent mala Punica.

I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

12 Nescivi: anima mea conturbavit me propter quadrigas Aminadab.

Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots.

13 Revertere, revertere Sulamitis: Revertere, revertere, ut intueamur te. Quid videbis in Sulamite, nisi choros castrorum?

Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?