Fly, My Dove: Song of Songs 2 Reflection and Journal Prompts

A dove is tucked into a crack in a cliff, out of the wind and out of sight. That is the picture in Song of Songs 2:14. Someone who loves the dove calls to it gently and asks to see its face and hear its voice.

The Song of Songs is a love poem, and in this line one lover is speaking to the other. The beloved is pictured as a shy bird “in the clefts of the rock” (Song of Songs 2:14), safe but hidden. The one calling does not scold or demand. They simply want to be near, and they say plainly that the voice is sweet and the face is lovely. Many Christians also read the Song as a picture of the way God loves people, and they pray with it that way. You can sit with it however it lands for you: as a poem about being wanted, as a prayer, or as a question you are still turning over.

There is rest in that hiding place, and the verse does not shame it. A dove needs a sheltered ledge, and so do you, some weeks. But rest and hiding are not quite the same thing. Rest lets you come back out. Hiding can slowly turn into a habit of never being seen, of keeping your real voice tucked away even from the people, or from God, who might want to hear it.

Picture a pigeon pressed under the eaves of an old building during a long rain. It is dry and still, and that is good. When the rain stops, it shakes out its feathers and flies down to the street. Or think of someone who always sits in the back row at meetings. The back row is fine. You might just notice one day that you have something to say, and that it would be all right to say it.

Writing can be a small way of leaving the cleft for a moment. On the page no one interrupts, and you can try out your own voice at whatever volume feels safe. “Let me hear your voice” (Song of Songs 2:14) reads as an invitation, not an order, and a journal is a quiet place to answer it. It is also a place to admit that you are not ready yet.

Before you write

Start where the dove starts, which is hidden. You do not have to come out all at once. Choose a prompt below and write the first sentence in a whisper, plain and short, and let the next one be a little louder if it wants to be. When you would like more prompts on slowing down, our rest prompts are a gentle next step.