Shlomo - Rumi Eros, Divinity and the Paradox of Desire

(24) Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.

(16) And to the woman He said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children. Yet your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

(7) Surely, if you do well, be accepted. But if you do not do well, [khatat - mistep - mistake] couches at the door; Its desire is toward you, Yet you can be its master.”

(2) For ... is dearer. Your love [is dearer] to me than any banquet of wine or than any pleasure and joy. In the Hebrew language, every feast of pleasure and joy is called after the wine, as the matter is stated, “to the house of the wine feast,”⁹Esther 7:8. [and as in,] “They shall not drink wine with song,”¹⁰Yeshayahu 24:9. [and as in,] “And there were harp and lute, tambourine and flute, and wine at their drinking parties.”¹¹Ibid. 5:12. This is the explanation of its apparent meaning. And according to its allegorical meaning: It was said in reference to when He gave them His Torah and spoke to them face to face. And that love is still more pleasant to them than any pleasure, and they are assured by Him that He will appear to them again to explain to them the secret of its reasons and its hidden mysteries, and they beseech Him to fulfill His word. This is [the meaning of], “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth.”

This oath is that the strength of desire to reach the end may be destroyed and will not be guided to perfection in the proper way. And this was the will that would not awaken and provoke love until it desired. ... another step until the goal is reached:

(26) After this - my skin is attacked/destroyed, and from my flesh I shall hold/grasp/comprehend God.

(25) But I know that my Vindicator lives; In the end He will testify on earth— (26) This, after my skin will have been peeled off. But I would behold God while still in my flesh, (27) I myself, not another, would behold Him; Would see with my own eyes: My heart pines within me.

(1) Turn back, turn back, O maid of Shulem! Turn back, turn back, That we may gaze upon you. “Why will you gaze at the Shulammite In the Mahanaim dance?” (2) How lovely are your feet in sandals, O daughter of nobles! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, The work of a master’s hand. (3) Your navel is like a round goblet— Let mixed wine not be lacking!— Your belly like a heap of wheat Hedged about with lilies. (4) Your breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle. (5) Your neck is like a tower of ivory, Your eyes like pools in Heshbon By the gate of Bath-rabbim, Your nose like the Lebanon tower That faces toward Damascus. (6) The head upon you is like crimson wool, The locks of your head are like purple— A king is held captive in the tresses. (7) How fair you are, how beautiful! O Love, with all its rapture! (8) Your stately form is like the palm, Your breasts are like clusters. (9) I say: Let me climb the palm, Let me take hold of its branches; Let your breasts be like clusters of grapes, Your breath like the fragrance of apples, (10) And your mouth like choicest wine. “Let it flow to my beloved as new wine Gliding over the lips of sleepers.” (11) I am my beloved’s, And his desire is for me.