Canticum canticorum

 
Palestrina put to music The Song of Songs of Solomon - a strange insertion in the bible. This is something for the background of your perceptions [Play MP3] I thought of Penelope, the background figure in the Odyssey. What is on her mind as she pines for her love taking so long to get home? She sits there waiting patiently for some decent conversation.

The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's

O that you should kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!
For your love is better than wine,
your annointing oils are fragrant,
Your name is oil poured out;
therefore the maidens love you,
Draw me after you, let us make haste,
The king has brought me into his chambers
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.

I am very dark, but comely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy,
because the sun has scorched me.
My mother's son were angry with me,
they made me keeper of the vineyards;
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
were you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who wanders
beside the flocks of your companions?

If you do not know,
O fairest among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your kids
besides the shepherds' tents.



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