Song of Solomon 5 · The Lantern

Mi derlyng, come in to his gardyn, to ete the fruyt of hise applis. Mi sister spousesse, come thou in to my gardyn. Y have rope my myrre, with my swete smellynge spices; Y haue ete an hony combe, with myn hony; Y haue drunke my wyn, with my mylk. Frendis, ete ye, and drynke; and derewortheste frendis, be ye fillid greetli.

The place of his burial was a garden.… What is he going to say who was buried in the garden? "I gather my myrrh, and my spices"; and again, "Myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices." These were the tokens of his burial, and in the Gospels it is said, "The women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared," and "there also came Nicodemus, bringing a mixture of myrrh…

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, etc. Those who in sacred writings seek the sweetness of spiritual insights and know how to elucidate them through preaching for the salvation of listeners are compared to the honeycomb. Those who eagerly taste the prepared meals of the word and desire to consume them insatiably are likened to honey.

Furthermore, this charity gives to the soul a fire. Hence, in the Canticle, "Set me as a seal on your heart... for stern as death is love," when it loves to such a degree that it is totally carried up to the supremely desirable, and sees prosperity as nothing, and adversity as nothing, since all things are like a single straw in a furnace.

Y slepe, and myn herte wakith. The vois of my derlyng knockynge; my sister, my frendesse, my culuer, my spousesse vnwemmed, opene thou to me; for myn heed is ful of dew, and myn heeris ben ful of dropis of niytis.

According to the counsel of the apostle, the zealous person can do all things for the glory of God, so that every act and every word and every work has in it power of praise. Whether the just person eats or drinks, he does all for the glory of God.

"I sleep and my heart remains awake." The divine Word, who is to be understood here under the title of the heart, never sleeps or falls asleep while hidden within the veil of the flesh, but he carries the sleeper. He explains this in a deeply mysterious way to the friends and beloveds who believe in him and whom he invites to partake of the joy of human salvation.

In this union the mind is joined to God, wherefore in a certain sense it sleeps, while in another it keeps vigil: "I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil." Only the affective power keeps vigil and imposes silence upon all the other powers; then man becomes foreign to his senses: he is in ecstasy and hears "secret words that man may not repeat," because they are only in the hea…

I have vnclothid me of my coote; hou schal Y be clothid ther ynne? I haue waische my feet; hou schal Y defoule tho?

In this night of the world the garment of corporeal life is first to be taken off as the Lord divested himself in his flesh that for you he might triumph over the dominions and powers of this world.

I have stripped off my tunic, etc. As if he openly says, I have abandoned the affairs of weak matters, how can I take them up again? For he who girds himself for the duty of preaching and takes on the care of governing souls, it remains that he should also be vigilant to provide the necessities of temporal aids to those to whom he preaches eternal things.

His bride stripped herself of her tunic, because she cast off all the outward things by which she was burdened. Concerning this tunic it is said: "Now let him who has a tunic sell it and buy a sword" (Luke 22:36). For he buys a sword by selling his tunic, who renounces temporal things for the sake of eternal ones, and living in holy conduct, acquires the word of preaching.

Mi derlyng putte his hond bi an hoole; and my wombe tremblide at the touchyng therof.

Y roos, for to opene to my derlyng; myn hondis droppiden myrre, and my fyngris weren ful of myrre moost preued.

Resurrection is not effected in us unless a voluntary death precedes it. Such a voluntary death is indicated by the drops of myrrh dripping from the bride's hands, for her fingers are filled with this spice. She says that myrrh did not come into her hands from any other source—if this were so, myrrh would mean something accidental and involuntary.

By myrrh the mortification of our flesh is figured; hence the holy Church says of her workers who strive for God even unto death: "My hands have dripped with myrrh." Therefore we offer gold to the newborn King if we shine in his sight with the brightness of heavenly wisdom.

Having been touched, she rises to open: because when she receives the spirit of love more abundantly than usual, she immediately thinks about the edification of her neighbor; and by preaching she acts so that, with hearts opened, the Bridegroom, coming to dwell in her neighbors, may find an entrance for entering.

Y openede the wiket of my dore to my derlyng; and he hadde bowid awei, and hadde passid. My soule was meltid, as the derlyng spak; Y souyte, and Y foond not hym; Y clepide, and he answerde not to me.

The bride says, "I sought him, but found him not." How can the bridegroom be found when he does not reveal anything of himself? He has no color, form, quality, quantity, place, appearance, evidence, comparison or resemblance. Rather, everything we can discover always transcends our comprehension and completely escapes our search.

Hence again she says: "My soul melted when the beloved spoke." For the mind of a person not seeking the form of its Creator is badly hardened, because it remains cold in itself. But if it has now begun to burn with desire to follow him whom it loves, melted by the fire of love it runs.

We make a bolt for the door when, through the pleasures of the flesh, we bar the entrance of the heart against the Bridegroom. But we open the bolt when, having removed fleeting pleasures, we soften our heart—which had previously been hard—into the love of Christ, and make a free entrance for the Bridegroom knocking at the door.

Keperis that cumpassiden the citee founden me; thei smytiden me, and woundiden me; the keperis of wallis token awey my mentil.

Ye douytris of Jerusalem, Y biseche you bi an hooli thing, if ye han founde my derlyng, that ye telle to hym, that Y am sijk for loue.

A! thou faireste of wymmen, of what manner condicioun is thi derlyng `of the louede? of what manner condicioun is thi derling of a derling? for thou hast bisouyt vs bi an hooli thing.

My derling is whyt and rodi; chosun of thousyndis.

All flesh implies birth, with marriage as the means for bringing it about. The person, however, who is not subject to a birth of flesh with respect to the mystery of religion does not submit to the actions effected by human nature or to the passions arising from the mind. He understands that the generation of the flesh belongs to all humankind.

He is white because he is the light of the world, the Sun of righteousness "who enlightens everyone entering the world," according to John the Evangelist and the preaching of the prophets.

But is he still black? Far from it! Your beloved is radiant and ruddy. Beautiful indeed is he whom the flowers of roses and the lilies of the valleys surround; that is, the choirs of martyrs and of virgins: and I who sit in the midst am in harmony with both choirs, a virgin and a martyr.

His heed is best gold; hise heeris ben as the bowis of palm trees, and ben blake as a crowe.

Hair is also represented by another comparison, wherein the shape of its locks seems to mimic the brilliance of gold. "His hair is like waves of palms," so that they would surely seem to be curly and golden.

His hair lifted like palm trees, etc. The hair of the beloved's head is the throng of saints, who adhere to God with faithful service; and deservedly are they compared to raised palm trees, because they expect the sweetness of perpetual reward. Hence it is that the Psalmist says: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" (Psalm 92).

The head of Christ is God. This head is rightly called gold, because in comparison with the Creator every creature is reckoned a most worthless thing (1 Cor. 11). His locks are like clusters of palm branches, black as a raven. What do we understand by the locks of Christ, if not all the faithful?

Hise iyen ben as culueris on the strondis of watris, that ben waischid in mylk, and sitten besidis fulleste ryueris.

In doves, the eyes are signified. For when it says, "doves over the abundance of the waters," it means this kind of bird when it comes to the waters. There it is accustomed to suffer the attacks of the hawk and to detect its hostile arrival in flight when it sees the shadow of its wings in the waters.

"His eyes like doves on pools of water," once again here by mention of the "eyes" admiring his keen sight. Hence her saying they are like doves "on pools of water" reminds us of the dove coming down on him in the Jordan.

The eyes of the bridegroom are like doves, because the preachers of Christ who show us the way live in simplicity. Moreover, they are said to be beside streams of water, because they always dwell in the refreshment of the divine Scriptures.

Hise chekis ben as gardyns of swete smellynge spices, set of oynement makeris; hise lippis ben lilies, droppynge doun the best myrre.

Hise hondis ben able to turne aboute, goldun, and ful of iacynctis; his wombe is of yuer, ourned with safiris.

Hise lippis ben pilers of marble, that ben foundid on foundementis of gold; his schapplinesse is as of the Liban, he is chosun as cedris.

A pillar must rest on the foundation of truth. Truth is golden, and its bases are the bridegroom's legs adorning his hands and head. The foundation may be interpreted as marble. We understand by the Song's words that the body's legs are marble pillars, that is, those persons who support and bear the body of the church by exemplary lives and sound words.

"His form is like choice incense, like cedars." Here again she makes reference to the fact of two natures, calling the divine nature "incense" since by the law incense was offered to God, and by "cedar" referring to the human nature in its not being affected by the rottenness of sin, the cedar of all trees not going rotten.

But those spiritual feet of God, which the penitent must first kiss spiritually, I ought not to pass over. I know your curiosity, which allows nothing to pass by altogether uninvestigated of its own accord.

His throte is moost swete, and he is al desirable. Ye douytris of Jerusalem, siche is my derlyng, and this is my freend.

Thou faireste of wymmen, whidur yede thi derlyng? whidur bowide thi derlyng? and we schulen seke hym with thee.

Song of Solomon5