1. Cantique des Cantiques 5:5 (NEG79)
  2. Explication du texte

Why is the young woman’s hand dripping with myrrh when she rises to open?

Cantique des Cantiques 5:5 (NEG79)

5 Je me suis levée pour ouvrir à mon bien-aimé; Et de mes mains a dégoutté la myrrhe, De mes doigts, la myrrhe s'est répandue Sur la poignée du verrou.

On all levels of reading, we see that her mind is changed. She now desires to be in the embrace of the young man. Where earlier he was wet with the dew of the night, now she is dripping with myrrh.1

Hands dripping with myrrh is a continuation of the metaphor of her sexual excitement as she opens the door for him.2 The myrrh is concentrated on the handles of the bolt because that is the point at which their two hands come closest to touching in this dream-like scene.3