Songs of Solomon - Sublime Poem of Love

Solomon's Songs of Songs ( sofs)

Love, what is it?? Here are some songs of love, sublime poetry for you who dabble in poetry. If there is someone here who can talk about love, passion, beauty, the intensity of conflicting emotions? You would find it difficult to better what Solomon has done in his Song of Songs.

It has been my dream to write poetry, with such passion, engaging all the senses and thoughts, that you hang on to every word; as you read those words you can feel the emotion, see the scenes, smell the fragrance and be the silent observer in the scene, more real than reality itself. Love that come totally and wildly alive through the lines of this book.

Erotic Love in the Bible

The woman he loved – Bathsheba, perhaps says in these lines, he writes:

Song of songs 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting table, And his banner over me was love.

⁵ Sustain me with cakes of raisins, Refresh me with apples, For I am lovesick.

⁶ His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me.

⁷ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the doves of the field, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases.

¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies.

Most people I know think that the Bible is boring or have a poor idea of what it contains. I wonder if they knew passionate poetry of the highest kind is from the Bible, not just passionate, but a wealth of knowledge loaded in few words. Most of today’s training ideas, plots for play, novels could lead back to this Book.

Passionate Love

The feasting has begun and Solomon has gently covered his lady love with his insignia of love, so caught up is she that she says..“I am lovesick”… and “he sustains me with cakes of raisins and refreshes me with apples”… insatiable love, that needs breaks to be refreshed before getting back to the passion of loving. I am reminded of Shakespeare “if music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it”. Was Shakespeare mistaken? Are raisins and apples the food of love? Is it what stirs up passion? Are fruits fresh and dry, the magic key that intensifies passion and keeps it alive?? Any need for Viagra here? I think not.

‘His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me.’ I can imagine the tenderness in those lines, imagine the posture, the look in his eyes and gentleness of approach, the animal magnetism of the moment, etc. Who said there was no passion in the Bible??

I am fascinated by this line especially “do not stir up nor awaken love. Until it pleases, “so much told and yet untold, so much implied and perceived and yet so subtle in delivery.

My beloved is mine and I am his… just seals this love with the security that comes from being loved and loved so passionately, it is only for a couple deeply and passionately in love. Love that comes from a deep understanding, not someone who has 'fallen' in love suddenly and could as abruptly fall out of love.

I have been reading poetry or lines parading as poetry that is a blatantly sexual, leaving nothing to imagination or any work of the mind. Here are a few words said, but has stirred up imagination over the centuries… and still has people writing about them. Every time I read it, I remember being in the throes of love, first love, ever so gentle, ever so passionate and strong.

The Art of Love - Biblical

Chapter 4 of the Song of Songs (or SOFS), is an awesome piece of poetry, that is so passionate, descriptive, picturesque, filling the senses and pulling at your heart strings.

Wow! Oh wow!! it just stops short of being a lesson in the art of love.. “a well of living waters.”

⁹You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace.

¹⁰ How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!

¹¹ Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹² A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed.

¹³ Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard,

¹⁴ Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices ---

¹⁵ A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.

Sublime Poetry at its Best

I cannot find words to express my appreciation of these lines, so beautiful, so colourful and pleasantly divine without vulgarity involved. The reader’s imagination is set on fire, the smell of cinnamon, spike-nard, pure frankincense and you can fill in with those smell of spices that you are familiar with, they would leave your senses tingling, asking for more. You can almost taste the honey and milk on her lips, all your senses are engaged, rapt in attention hanging on to the next word that would flow out.

Almost every word has color, smell or music or pictures attached to them, words can launch a thousand fleets of imagination…Yes, my description is borrowed, but well worth it.

That is my idea of poetry, my concept of love… tantalizingly engaging while the rest is left to the richness of your imagination. The pictures that they create - if only I were a master painter, I could paint such beauty and make myself, the richest, most sought after painter in the world. Alas! my brush strokes cannot launch the thousand images that flit through my mind.. oh! yes, they cannot evoke the smells either. I wish I could, I wish I only could.

Powerful words, gentle as they seem they have the strength of steel in them too. Song of songs 8:6,7 Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.

It is hot, all consuming passion that they have between them, like a blazing forest fire, searing through the soul. All the waters of the oceans may not be sufficient to put off that flaming desire. This exclusive love will not rest until it is branded. It stirs up jealousy as harsh as death itself - the darkness of Othello comes to my mind, now I think, I know where all these plots come from. Powerful passions, such vivid imagery and words so compelling that ring in your ears long after you are done reading.

Such is the passion of God for mankind, he delights in his creation, his delight surpasses all else, he is into every detail, nothing misses his eye .. you are his precious creation, he is into you, his Spirit longs with a deep passionate longing for your love. His love surpasses all understanding, no wonder Solomon was called the wise. He could see what God is after… after you my friend. Remember he loves you with a passion that you don’t even know existed.

A word from the author....

If, what you read, did make you think, made you visualize, or may be made those words of Solomon come alive, let me know, leave a comment, tell me if you felt the same passion stir up within you as it does for me!! Thank you for strolling with me and spending time in the weaves from my mindspace.