Read & explore together
The Bride’s Dream
This poem gives the words of a woman seeking the one she loves, first by night on her bed, then through the city, and finally ending with a careful charge about love.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In Song of Solomon 3:1–5, the speaker repeatedly seeks “him whom my soul loves” and at first does not find him. She goes through the city streets and squares, speaks to the watchmen, then finds him and brings him to her mother’s house. The passage closes by telling the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up or awaken love “until it so desires.”
Song of Solomon 3:1–5Main takeaway
As an application from this poem, readers can treat love as something powerful that should not be stirred up or awakened carelessly.
Explore the poem and its images
01Seeking by nightThe poem opens, “By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves.” The line is personal and intense.
Explanation
The poem opens, “By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves.” The line is personal and intense. It is followed by the repeated words, “I sought him, but I didn’t find him,” which stress absence and longing. The repeated phrase “whom my soul loves” shows deep affection in poetic language.
02Going through the cityThe speaker does not stay still. She says, “I will get up now,” and goes “about the city,” through “the streets” and “the squares.”
Explanation
The speaker does not stay still. She says, “I will get up now,” and goes “about the city,” through “the streets” and “the squares.” Yet the same result follows: “I sought him, but I didn’t find him.” The poem traces a determined search, moving from the bed into public places.
03From the watchmen to reunionThe watchmen who go about the city find her, and she asks, “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
Explanation
The watchmen who go about the city find her, and she asks, “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” Soon after passing them, she finds him. She then says, “I held him, and would not let him go,” bringing him into “my mother’s house.” The language emphasises reunion and closeness.
04A charge about loveThe poem ends by addressing the “daughters of Jerusalem” with a solemn charge: “you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.”
Explanation
The poem ends by addressing the “daughters of Jerusalem” with a solemn charge: “you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.” After the strong expressions of seeking and holding, this closing line adds caution. In the poem, love is precious and not to be forced or treated lightly.
Questions to explore
01Which repeated line helps you feel the speaker’s longing most strongly?
Look at the words repeated in both verse 1 and verse 2, and notice how the same unsuccessful search is said twice.
02How does the poem trace the search from one place to another?
Follow the order of places named in the passage: the bed, the city, the streets and squares, then the meeting after the watchmen.
03What exact warning is given in verse 5, and how does it shape the way you read the rest of the poem?
Read the closing charge carefully and connect it to the strong language of love and reunion earlier in the passage.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Song of Solomon 3:1–5
1By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
2I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
3The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.
5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.