Last year, I also wrote about the feast of
Mary Magdelene and the passage from the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Therefore, this time I want to write about the
Songs of Solomon.
I studied science and therefore poetry is not my cup of tea. The pleasing sounds of Chinese poetry, I can appreciate. But when it comes to English, I may not be as capable to follow adequately the meter, the rhyme and the images etc. Hebrew poetry is even more difficult. Simply put, most of us do not know where the accents/stresses lie, how it is pronounced and whether it can be sung. At most, scholars have been able to unearth some parallel structures in it. Let's face it, we read the translations of these poems only. The parallel structures still remain, but the acoustic beauty will elude us. Despite all these setbacks, I understand that poems are powerful vehicles to convey emotions. As I mature, poetry is gaining its appeal over me.
Romantic love and religious emotions probably share the same region in our brains. There are a lot of feelings in common. That probably explains why these love poems were able to occupy a place among the Holy Scripture. Read this.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is cruel as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a most vehement flame (Songs 8:6).
No doubt, this is a line taken from a love poem. Love is as intense as death, as consuming as a fire. Most people have experienced love one way or another. It will not be too difficult to translate their love of God with these terms. Answer ourselves honestly. Have we ever loved God so intensely as to defy death? Have we ever engraved the image of Jesus on our arm, in our heart?
Repetition is one of the many poetic devices. It is part of the parallel structures scholars found in Hebrew poetry. They might act as sign-posts, bracketing chunks of texts. Here are a few examples.
O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me! (Songs 2:6, 8:3)
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, (by the gazelles or the hinds of the field,) that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please (Songs 2:7, 3:5, 8:4).
I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me (Songs 3:4b, 8:2a).
Another type of parallel structure involves meanings and pushes the poem forward. For example
I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys (Songs 2:1)
O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me! (Songs 2:6)
for love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave (Song 8:6b).
Of course there are many more parallel structures. But all these poetic devices only serve to make the poem more appealing and more memorable. For us, these poems are helpful in uplifting our souls to God, even though some of the verses can be very suggestive while some others are explicit. Erotic love and religious sentiments are sometimes difficult to differentiate.
In the celebration of the feast of St. Mary Magdelene, we read Songs 3:1-4.
Upon my bed by night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer (Songs 3:1).
From our experience, we feel that God has been very elusive. He seems to be playing hide-and-seek with us all the time. Yet, very often, He will pop up where we least expect Him. How delightful!
Scarcely had I passed them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I had brought him into my mother's house,
and into the chamber of her that conceived me (Songs 3:4).
Once we have found God, do we establish the most intimate relationship with Him?
Dear Lord, I am not of mystic stuff. I understand that I am not worthy to receive You in my innermost chamber. Please, do not catch me unprepared. Amen.
