The Voice of My Beloved
Joan Englander©2019
Song of Songs: 2:8-13
“The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains...”
Even as the challenges of life
seem overwhelming
even as I am unable to take charge
to be in control
to even comprehend
what is happening in my life:
I hear the voice of my beloved.
He is coming to me
in my helplessness
causing me to delight in him.
I am not alone, he is coming
leaping upon the mountains
of aging, of despair, sickness
loneliness
changing my mourning into dancing.
I know he is coming and gladness
begins to overtake me.
He is coming
I am waiting for him and as I wait
I hear him calling.
“My beloved is like a gazelle…
behold he…looks in at the windows;
he peers through the lattice.”
My beloved is peering
into the window of my heart
my heart is left open for him.
He is peering in, he beholds me
not in my shame or helplessness
but in the beauty of my soul
in the beauty of my waiting.
I have prepared a place for him
in my heart I am meeting him there
meeting his grace, abounding
like a gazelle dancing
on my heartstrings bringing
joy in the midst of trials.
“My beloved spoke, and said to me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
and come away.”
I am coming away with my beloved.
My body may be chained to earth but
soul and spirit are carried off with him.
I wait upon him, take my refuge in him
turn my spirit toward him and he enters.
Now I live in him, no matter what
physical influences are around me
life is a moving dance in and with
my beloved.
“For lo, the winter is past…
the flowers appear on the earth…”
For the coldness of fear, anxiety, anger
Give way to love pure and sweet
my beloved sweeps me away into life
with him. Out of my heart blossoms
the flower of his song, an outpouring
of joy, of golden light warming
cold stones so long living in my heart
creating boulders of resistance.
“…the time of the singing bird is come…”
My beloved is singing his song of love
in me. I am removed from the
problems of this earth. I enter into a
haven where nothing can go wrong
all is in chorus, drawing me further
and further into a sphere of
shimmering joy.
“…and the vines in blossom give their scent.”
My beloved is a vine wrapping
its fragrance around my heart.
The divine vine of love embraces me
wraps me in blossoms perfuming
my thoughts and lifting my emotions
into songs of ecstasy.
“Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.”
No matter what is happening, I can endure because I have found my resting place
my sacred space wherein I can be free
from every problem
wherein I can dwell serenely.
Because my soul is anchored to my
beloved, this earth life is not my
ultimate dwelling place.
I have found heaven within me.
“My beloved is mine and I am his.”
L’cha Dodi
Oh joy is my beloved!
For his joy is mine and mine is his
we are mingled in the bliss
of our marriage vow. At this moment
I am being wedded to my beloved
and he carries me
in the fragrant vine of his arms
leaping upon the mountains
playing the flute
calling me as he carries me.
And I call to him out of the rejoicing
in my heart
a song that we sing for each other amidst
the tumult of the broken world I live in
when my body, senses, emotional
desires lock me in a prison of attachment
as they try to convince me
they are more real than my beloved’s
eternity. I come away with my beloved
and am saved.
L’cha Dodi
I now dwell in our songs of ecstasy.
My dwelling place has become exaltation.
L’cha Dodi - My beloved is mine and I am his.
May all this be so.
May all this become a living flame of hope.
End Note: This translation of Song of Songs is from The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Publishers, Jerusalem Ltd. Jerusalem 1969
The translation of L’cha Dodi is from Song of Songs 6:3; Ah-nee l’dodi v’dodi lee, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
String instruments in the music of this recording were made by Brian Lisus Violins
Jewish cantor: Mark Childs
Producer: Brian Lisus
Music in sequential order:
Brahms E minor cello sonata
Schubert arpeggione viola and piano
Tchaikovsky piano trio
Beethoven violin spring sonata
Bach: Art of the Fugue no 18 string quartet
Mozart dissonance string quartet
Sibelius violin concerto
Cesar Franck violin sonata