O Garden Dweller

'Arise, My beloved, My beautiful one, and come!  For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth.  The time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, My beloved, My beautiful one, and come!'

'My Lover belongs to me and I to Him; He browses among the lilies.  Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen, roam, my Lover, like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.' 

'You are an enclosed garden, My sister, My bride, an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed...'

'Arise, north wind!  Come, south wind!  Blow upon my garden, that its perfumes may spread abroad...'

'I have come to My garden, My Sister, My bride; I gather My myrrh and My spices...'

'My Lover has come down to His garden, to the beds of spice, to browse in the garden and to gather lilies.  My Lover belongs to me and I to Him; He browses among the lilies..'

'O garden-dweller, My friends are listening for your voice, let Me hear it!'

(Excerpts from dialogues between Lover and Beloved in Song of Songs)

Painting:  Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Bride from Song of Songs





To look at dryness in the garden, click this line