LXXII PURIFICATION
Mitchell S. (Mitchell Starrett) Buck translation
THOU art there! Take off thy bandelets and thy clasps and thy tunic. Remove even thy sandals, even the ribbons of thy legs, even the band of thy breast.
Wash the black from thine eyebrows and the red from thy lips. Efface the white of thy shoulders and uncurl thy hair in the water.
For I would have thee all pure as thou wert born upon the bed at the feet of thy fecund mother and before thy proud father.
So chaste that my hand in thy hand will make thee redden even to thy lips and one word of mine in thine ear will fill, with an excess of love, thy wandering eyes.