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The Song of the Bridegroom
The song of songs, which is my voice,
The upright shall hear, the virgin listen,
For I am the song amid the terror
I am the seeker of the light.
I am caretaker to her silent need
Of which she hides in the cleft of the rock
For the thief has come and taken all her bounty,
But cannot find the Garden where she dwell.
The sun has looked upon me in my days of youth
It has burnished my face,
The spawn of my mother have raised against me
They have become angry with me.
They have set me keeper of their vineyards,
So mine own vineyard I could not keep.
I have made their flocks to rest at noon
I have fed the kids beside their shepherds' tents.
I have been cast out into darkness,
By the mountains and by the hills I have dwelt.
Great increase have I made of their sheep and of their **goats
That they be rich as lords of Solomon.
Yet I am the seeker of the light,
I am the watchman for the brides who wait.
They are as one bride born into the wilderness
Who go in danger, though they have no fear.
Where shall I find you, oh my heart's desire?
How shall I mend your veil which the watchman hath **rent?
For I have builded up a temple braced in cedar
And rafters of fir.
I will get me to the mountains of myrrh,
And to the hills of frankincense,
I will go from the lions' dens.
And from the land of the leopards.
For I shall seek you out.
I shall take you under the cedars of Lebanon.
I shall take you upon the bed of Solomon
For his bed is green as the fields in spring.
Behold, I standeth behind your wall,
I looketh forth at the windows,
Showing myself through the lattice.
It is the voice of your beloved that knocks.
My head is filled with dew,
And my hair with the drops of the night.
My hand is by the hole of your door.
Where is the light of the lamp that I seek?
For I am the rose of Sharon, the lily among the thorns
My love is the Garden, rebuilt again
As comely as old Jerusalem
As terrible as an army with banners.
My left hand shall be under your head.
My right hand will embrace you.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine,
For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The daughters saw her, and blessed her,
The queens and the concubines, they praised her,
For her linens were of the whitest snow
And she has found the oil for her lamp.
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?
Where has she gone, who is the greatest pearl?
I shall go down into the Garden, the Garden of the lilies
The fountain of Gardens, to the well of living waters.
I have withdrawn myself, and am gone.
I have risen now, and will go,
I will go down into the valley of the lilies
The lilies that are shining forth in light.
Behold the Garden, behold the Eden promise
Called back now from when it was lost,
Found once again. And she has gone
To feed upon the lilies in that place.
Come to me, oh beloved,
Oh daughter of Jerusalem, for I am sick in love.
Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field
There I will give thee my loves.
Who will hear the voice of my beloved?
I will come leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills
For I do see the burning light of the lamp.
How beautiful is the muscle of your legs
To run my tongue along the sinew of your thigh
To wet your member with the heat of my mouth
That swells in hardness as the cedars of Lebanon.
For you are the Woman of the Wilderness,
Who has gone down into the Garden
To the bed of lilies which stain your linens
In golden pollen, as bright as the gold of Solomon.
You have kept the lamp in the wilderness of the New **World.
You have gone down into the cave,
Into the belly of our Mother Earth
Where the lamp shines out through the stone portal.
I come down into the Garden, to see
The bounty of the valley, to see where my love had gone.
I come to see if the vine flourish,
If the path be light before me.
I go to my beloved, and her desire is mine.
I rub upon her member and spend myself,
She spends herself upon my belly.
I gather this holy water in my hand.
I take it into my mouth and press my lips upon her.
It flows into her mouth from me, as sweet as honeycomb
And she moans for its taste as it melts into us
And by this act we shall be one.
The roof of your mouth is a burning fire
As I let my manself into it.
My loins ache as I arch my back
While pollen sift down upon us from the lily tree.
Oh, my love, were you a stranger
And I would find you wanting,
I would carry you into my Mother's house,
Into the chamber of her that conceived me.
You shall lie down upon me in sleep
And not be awakened until you please.
The pollen of the lily shall stain us gold
As we lie among the flowers, now at peace.
I am the promise that comes out of the wilderness,
I am the voice of love crying in the wilderness.
I am as a seal upon your heart,
A seal upon your bridehead.
This love does not know what is death
For when the lamp is lit it does not fail
Though the sun may go out
This light will not go out.
Though darkness comes upon us, the lamp be lit.
We shall see great waters flood around us,
We shall see great fires consume what is around us,
But what shall touch us here?
What will we become, a wall?
Then a palace of silver will form around us.
Will we become a door?
Then panels of silver will enclose around us.
Here is a palace of every flower,
Its walls which face new Eden.
The light does not extinguish in the morning nor the **night,
And we need never rise from where we are.
We who dwell in these Gardens,
Happy bridegroom at his bride,
Now whole, upon mountains of spices
Have fulfilled the promise of our life.
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