The woman said: "My perfume filled the air with fragrance.
My lover has the scent of myrhh as he lies upon my breasts…I am weak with
passion. His left hand is under my head
and his right hand caresses me".
"My darling come with me", the man replied. "You are
like a dove that hides in the crevice of a rock…..how beautiful you are! …Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon…your
cheeks glow…the taste of honey is on your lips, your tongue is milk and honey
to me".
She said: "My lover is handsome and strong, he is one in
ten thousand. …his mouth is sweet to kiss; everything about him enchants
me. This is what my love is like".
"What a magnificent young woman you are!" said the man. "The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist…..how complete the
delights of your love. You are a graceful as a palm tree (and) I will climb the
palm tree and pick its fruit. To me
your breasts are like bunches of
grapes, your breath like the fragrance of apples, and your mouth like the
finest wine".
Dare you guess where that piece of spicy writing is taken
from? (And no, it's not Kama Sutra!)
It is, of course, a very abridged
conversation between two lovers, describing themselves, their feelings and
their relationship. And it’s easily available to everyone because it’s in the
Bible, daring as it might sound! It’s from “The Song of Songs”, a short poem
attributed to Solomon but generally known to have another unknown author. And because it is so openly written it is
not popularly known though not suppressed by both Christian or Jewish
religions (though to be precise, Christianity tends to generally circumvent it
in its liturgy).
Yet it is a very interesting piece of literature with a
strong spiritual background. In the two-abovementioned monotheistic religions,
The “Song” is considered to be a description of God’s relationship with
man. Christians take it a step further
by describing it as Christ’s relationship with His Church. The kissing of the
lips in the above extract, for example, is a clear reference to God’s breath on
man, giving life to humanity. The concept is that if you are in love (with God)
then you are at peace. And beauty is
not to be seen only as an outwardly aesthetic thing but as a true reflection of
the beauty inside.
I am also told that in the Hebrew context one’s face and
voice are considered the reflection of a person. So when love rears its
head in a relationship it becomes the voice and the face. And without true and
pure love one cannot find God in the other. A lot is built on the desire for
one another, such that if one correctly reads one’s body language it indicates
the true depth of love one has for the other.
Love's desire also means you have to learn to be patient too.
Desire is an art….especially since a couple need each other to become
complete. In a spiritual context, in
our love relationship with God, all we
can really have is a desire for this relationship because we have to wait for God to take the first
step of response to our approach. And
though we know it will come, it is not instant…nothing is with Him, in fact, the
exact opposite of what life today expects. Everything is now. Yet we forget that in His plan, a plant
takes years to become a tree….a living cell takes nine months to become a
baby…He has all the time in the world (or the universe?), so we learn that
working at this relationship has to be done slowly, one day at a time, one
experience after another. And when we look back at our life after many years we should then see the
beauty and greatness of His love in it.
And then we should be grateful!
