Cantiques 7
1 Que tes pas sont ravissants dans tes brodequins, fille de noble race! Les contours de tes hanches sont comme des colliers, œuvre d’une main d’artiste.
You who are the daughter of a prince/king, you have lovely feet in your sandals. Your curved hips/thighs are like [SIM] jewels that have been made by a (skilled craftsman/man who shapes jewels very well).
2 Ton giron est comme une coupe arrondie, pleine d’un breuvage parfumé; ton corps est comme une meule de froment, bordée de roses.
Your navel is [like] [MET] a round bowl that is always full of wine mixed [with spices]. Your waist is [like] [SIM] a mound/bundle of wheat with lilies [growing] around it.
3 Tes deux seins sont comme deux faons, jumeaux d’une biche.
Your breasts are as [as beautiful] as [SIM] two (fawns/young gazelles).
4 Ton cou est comme une tour d’ivoire; tes yeux sont comme les piscines de Hesbon, près de la porte de Bâth-Rabbîm; ton nez comme la tour du Liban qui regarde du côté de Damas.
Your neck is like [SIM] a tower [made of] ivory. Your eyes [sparkle/shine like] [MET] the pools in Heshbon [city], near the Bath-Rabbim gate. Your nose is [is as lovely] as [SIM] the tower of Lebanon which faces toward Damascus.
5 Ta tête est posée sur toi, pareille au Carmel, les boucles de tes cheveux ressemblent à l’écarlate: un roi serait enchaîné par ces boucles!
Your head is [majestic] like [SIM] Carmel Mountain. Your long hair is shiny [SIM] and black; [it is as though] I, your king, am captured by your tresses.
6 Que tu es belle, que tu es attrayante, mon amour, dans l’enivrement des caresses!
You whom I love, who have many charming features that attract me, are very beautiful and pleasant/pleasing.
7 Cette taille qui te distingue est semblable à un palmier, et tes seins à des grappes.
You are stately like [SIM] a palm tree, and your breasts are like [SIM] clusters/bunches of dates/fruit.
8 Je me suis dit: "Je monterai au palmier, je saisirai ses rameaux; que tes seins soient pour moi comme des grappes de la vigne, et l’odeur de tes narines comme celle des pommes;
I said [to myself], “I will climb that palm tree and take hold of those clusters of dates.” To me, your breasts are like clusters of grapes [that I can feel] and your breath is like the sweet fragrance of apples
9 et ton palais comme un vin exquis… Qui coule doucement pour mon bien-aimé et rend loquaces même les lèvres assoupies.
and your kisses are like very good wine. My kisses [MTY] go to the one who loves me and flow [like wine] over his lips and his teeth.
10 Je suis à mon bien-aimé, et lui, il est épris de moi.
I belong to the man who loves me, and he desires me.
11 Viens, mon bien-aimé, sortons dans les champs, passons la nuit dans les hameaux.
You who love me, let’s go to the countryside, and sleep among the henna bushes (OR, in one of the villages).
12 De bon matin, nous irons dans les vignes, nous verrons si les ceps fleurissent, si les bourgeons ont éclaté, si les grenades sont en fleurs. Là je te prodiguerai mes caresses.
And let’s go early to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded and if there are blossoms on them that have opened, and to see if the pomegranate [trees] are blooming, and there I will make love to you.
13 Les mandragores répandent leur parfum; à nos portes se montrent les plus beaux fruits, nouveaux et anciens, que j’ai réservés pour toi, mon bien-aimé!
The mandrakes/love-apples are producing a fragrant odor, and we are surrounded by delightful [pleasures] [MET, EUP], new ones and old ones, pleasures that I have been saving to give to you, who love me.
