Come with Me from Lebanon

The man calls the woman “my sister, my spouse” and invites her away from Lebanon, Amana, Shenir, Hermon, lions, and leopards. He says one look has captured his heart. Her love is better than wine, her fragrance better than spices, and honey and milk lie under her tongue.

The Song’s geography is poetic geography. Lebanon and Hermon suggest distance, height, beauty, forests, snow, danger, and exotic fragrance; they are not necessarily a travel itinerary. Likewise “sister” is an ancient term of endearment in love poetry, not a statement of biological kinship.