The Song of Songs
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh
leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows,
shewing himself through the lattice.
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret places of the stairs,
let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice;
for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
My beloved is mine, and I am his.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm:
for love is strong as death;
jealousy is cruel as the grave:
the coals thereof are coals of fire,
which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it.
Where it fits in the ceremony
Scripture readings usually come early in the ceremony, after the officiant’s opening words and before the vows. Churches differ on translation, and a Catholic wedding Mass draws its readings from an approved list, so check with your officiant before you print this one in the program.
Pair it with
Two readings that balance this one, one sacred and one secular:
- The Good-Morrow — “I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I / Did, till we lov’d?”
- We Are but Shadows — “We are but shadows … till the heart is touched. That touch creates us.”