Admiration by the Bridegroom

The bridegroom begins with the beauty of the bride's sandaled feet and moves upward through her body, comparing her to jewels, goblets, wheat, fawns, ivory, pools, Lebanon, Carmel, and royal purple. The sequence presents her not only as beautiful but as noble, abundant, and arresting in every part.

H¹ow beautiful are your sandaled feet, ²Your navel is a rounded goblet; ³Your breasts are like two fawns, ⁴Your neck is like a tower ⁵Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,

The bridegroom declares the bride fair and pleasant, compares her stature to a palm tree, and speaks openly of taking hold of its fruit. His praise culminates in the sweetness of her breath, her breasts, her nose, and her mouth like finest wine, where admiration ripens into explicit delight and desire.

⁶How fair and pleasant you are, ⁷Your stature is like a palm tree; ⁸I said, “I will climb the palm tree; ⁹and your mouth like the finest wine.