When Did I First Hear Your Name?
Your name is a flowing perfume— therefore young women love you. Song of Songs 1:3 When did I first hear your name? It was spoken to me as a child and sealed with perfumed oil. I knew not words; it sounded to me like a river through a forested valley, its waters flowing from the snows of the mountains over great rocks and down magnific falls. The sound grew clearer, even as I turned away from you, for you spoke words of forgiveness to me and fed me from your own substance. Clearer still did your name resound when my sister led me to the temple, where I left childhood behind and was introduced to the duties of a man. I ran from those duties, stupidly seeking life in death, never knowing what I truly sought was life in your name. At last, you brought me to my lover and made of us a self beyond self. Still I was not complete, for I did not know how to say your name. Until I realized we were three and you were three and all things were three, and in the three finally I could und...