The Canticles of Solomon – A love song

For Valentine, I have written nine columns since 1992: The Canticles of Solomon – A Love Song; Oh, That Towering Feeling!; You Can’t Beat the Memories You Gave to Me; Saigon, Mon Amour; Know These Things before You Say I DO; How to Have a Great Wedding Night; Preparing for a Great First Year of Marriage; How to Write Love Letters; and Opening One’s Heart through Love Letters. This week, I am repeating the "Canticles of Solomon" to celebrate this Valentine season.

Understanding and affection seem out of tune in the ‘jungle’ we live in

In the noisy confusion of today’s high-pressure world of politics and business, there is a tendency to overlook the inner spirit of man.

Tenderness, understanding, courtesy, affection — these are terms which so often seem strangely out of tune in the "jungle" we live in. Let us look back to that other dimension of time when the world was not so intense.

Solomon asks for wisdom to make the right decision

Before our Lord stepped down on earth, several kings (the chosen ones), prepared the way for Him. Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba, became king after his father’s death. He went to Gibeon, the most important place of worship to ask God Almighty for wisdom: "Lord my God, you have allowed me to be king in my father’s place. But I am a little child, I do not have the wisdom, I need to do what I must do… Without wisdom, it is impossible to rule this great people of yours."

The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s request (1 Kings 3:10). God said to him, "You did not ask for long life. You did not ask for riches for yourself. You did not ask for the death of your enemies. Since you asked for wisdom to make the right decision, I will give you what you asked… Your wisdom will be greater than anyone in the past. And there will never be anyone in the future like you. …no other king will be as great as you. I ask you to follow me and obey my laws and commandments."

Love’s desires

Riches and honor were showered on King Solomon although he did not ask for them. But, the greatest of these was the honor of being the wisest of kings. Just as his father sang God’s praises in psalms, Solomon also composed songs. The most excellent of his canticles was a Love Song, a dialogue between two lovers. The love of the bridegroom and the bride is a symbol of the love between Christ and His Church.

Bride: Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth! More delightful is your love than wine! Your name spoken is spreading perfume — that is why the maidens love you. Draw me to you, let us hurry! Bring me, O king, to your chambers.

Love’s vision

Groom: To the steeds of Pharaoh’s chariots would I liken you, my beloved. Your cheeks lovely in pendants, your neck in jewels. We will make pendants of gold for you, and silver ornaments.

Bride: I am a flower of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

Groom: As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among women.

Bride: As an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my lover among men. I delight to rest in his shadow, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth. He brings me into the banquet hall and his emblem over me is love. Strengthen me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left hand is under my head and his right arm embraces me.

A tryst in the spring

Bride: Hark! My lover — here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My lover speaks, he says to me.

Groom: Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear you, for your voice is sweet and you are lovely.

The charms of the beloved

Groom: How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride. How much more delightful is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments than all spices! Your lip drips honey, my bride, and sweetmeats and milk are under your tongue. And the fragrance of your garments is the fragrance of Lebanon.

Bride: I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil. I heard my lover knocking, ‘Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the moisture of the night.’

I have taken off my robe, am I then to put it on? I have bathed my feet, am I then to soil them? My lover put his hand through the opening, my heart trembled within me and I grew faint when he spoke. I rose to open to my lover, with my hands dripping choice myrrh upon the fittings of the lock. I opened to my lover – but my lover had departed, gone. I sought him but I did not find him. I called to him but he did not answer me.

The charms of the lost lover

(Daughters of Jerusalem): How does your lover differ from any other, O most beautiful among women? How does your lover differ from any other, that you adjure us so?

Bride: My lover is radiant and ruddy, he stands out among thousands. His head is pure gold, his locks are palm fronds, black as the raven. His eyes are like doves beside running waters, his teeth would seem bathed in milk, and are set like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice with ripening aromatic herbs. His lips are red blossoms, they drip choice myrrh. His arms are rods of gold adorned with chrysolites. His body is a work of ivory covered with sapphires.

The charms of the beloved

Groom: You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my beloved, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops. Turn your eyes from me, for they torment me… There are 60 queens, 80 concubines, and maidens without number — One alone is my dove, my perfect one, her mother’s chosen, the dear one of her parent. The daughters saw her and declared her fortunate, the queens and concubines, and they sang her praises. Who is this that comes forth like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops?

Love’s desires

Groom: How beautiful you are, how pleasing, my love, my delight! Your very figure is like a palm tree, your breasts are like clusters. I said: ‘I will climb the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches. Now let your breasts be like clusters of the vine and the fragrance of your breath like apples, and your mouth like an excellent wine.’

Love’s union

Bride: I belong to my lover and for me he yearns. Come, my lover, let us go forth to the fields and spend the night among the villages. Let us go early to the vineyards, and see if the vines are in bloom, if the buds have opened, if the pomegranates have blossomed, there will I give you my love. The mandrakes give forth fragrance and at our doors are all choice fruits. Both fresh and mellowed fruits, my lover, I have kept in store for you.

People need to believe in something larger than oneself

How saddening that technology gives us abundance, but has left us in want. That knowledge has made us cynical and that cleverness has made us hard and unkind.

Today, the urgent need of people is to find something to believe in, something that takes a person out of himself, and identifies him with a life, larger and beyond himself.

(Reference: The New American Bible, Song of Songs, Chapters 1-7)

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