Chapter 4:12-14

An enclosed garden is my sister, my bride
A hidden fountain, a sealed spring.
Your watered fields are an orchard of pomegranate trees
laden with delicious fruit,
flowering henna and spikenard —
spikenard and saffron, cane and cinnamon,
with every tree of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
all the finest perfumes.

I am hidden, even to myself.
The secret is revealed in the unselfconscious flow
of my love.

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In the Fever of Love ©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.

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Practice

Chant: The Secret Garden

Commentary

There is a mystery at the center of the Beloved and at the center of my experience of love. I can experience that mystery as a secret garden, whose blossoms and fruit wait to be revealed, savored and appreciated. Or I can experience that mystery as a concealed fountain whose waters flow from the hidden depths. Both images lure me deeper, humbling me with the realization that there is so much that I still don’t know. Yet in that awareness, my desire is sparked; my curiosity is kindled. The mystery draws me onward along the path of love.

Bridge to Torah

Metzora describes certain conditions that necessitate separating ourselves from the community and describes the process of returning. For the sake of our own wholeness, we sometimes need to “leave the camp” and search the inner places within ourselves. The Song of Songs guides us on the journey to that hidden fountain, that sealed spring. There we can re-establish the truth of our essential purity and then bring back to our community all the finest perfumes of our inner bounty.

Click to see Leviticus 14:1-15:33 in Hebrew and English (JPS 1985) or the associated Torah Journeys page.

Questions for Contemplation

Can I acknowledge my own hidden depths? Can I let my secret powers flow out as unique expressions of the Divine flow?

Resources

View Love at the Center Resources.
Click to see Song of Songs Chapter 4:12-14 in Hebrew with the English JPS (1985) translation.