'Come, my dear spouse and lady free'

The Assumption of the Virgin, British Library, Royal 6 E VII f.484v

Carissima in deliciis,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

1. Come, my dere spowse and lady free;
Come to thy sonne in heven blis,
For why next me thy place shalbe,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

2. Come, my myelde dove, into thy cage,
With ioye and blis replete whiche is;
For why it is thyne heritage.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

3. Moost faire and swete, moost meke and myelde,
Come to thy sonne and king of blis.
Moder and mayden vndefielde,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

4. Thou art alle fayre, my spowse moost dere,
And spotte of synne in the noon is:
Come fro Liban, to me appere.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

5. Thy stature is assymylate
To a palme tree and thy bristis
To grapes, spowse inmaculate.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

6. Off alle clennes I am the floure,
The felde wherof thy pure soule is.
O virginall floure moost of honoure,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

7. Thy blessed body was my bowre,
Wherefore my blis thou shallt not mys,
And alle seintes shalle the honoure.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

8. With thy brestes so pure and clene
Thou haste me fedde, wherfore, i-wis,
Of heven blis thou shalt be quene.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

This is a fifteenth-century carol by the Canterbury friar James Ryman in honour of the Virgin Mary, using imagery and direct quotation taken from the Song of Songs. The influence of the Song of Songs on medieval literature was deep and wide-ranging, and produced some beautiful writing; such an impassioned exclamation of tender, exulting love would bring remarkable results whatever language you translated it into, and by the time this poem was written Middle English, with an established tradition and language of love-poetry to draw on, was well suited for the purpose. The slightly earlier poem 'In a valley of restless mind' is perhaps my favourite English example, but 'Come my dear spouse and lady free' is interesting too. In both poems the speaking lover is Christ, but while 'In a valley of restless mind' is addressed to the human soul, this carol addresses the Virgin. However, like the Song of Songs itself (and like 'In a valley of restless mind'), the carol explores shifting relationships between speaker and subject: she is at various times spouse, mother, lover, and queen.

A 15th-century Coronation of the Virgin, from British Library, Harley 2915, f.40

Here's a modernised version of the poem; the refrain is pieced together from two phrases from the Song of Songs (Carissima in deliciis is from 7:6, Veni coronaberis from 4:8), and means something like 'sweetest in delights, now come, you shall be crowned'.

Carissima in deliciis,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

1. Come, my dear spouse and lady free;
Come to thy son in heavenly bliss,
For next to me thy place shall be,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

2. Come, my mild dove, into thy cage,
With joy and bliss replete it is;
For it is thine heritage.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

3. Most fair and sweet, most meek and mild,
Come to thy son and king of bliss.
Mother and maiden undefiled,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

4. Thou art all fair, my spouse most dear,
And spot of sin in thee none is:
Come from Liban, to me appear.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

5. Thy stature is assimilate [to be compared]
To a palm tree and thy breasts
To grapes, spouse immaculate.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

6. Of all cleanness I am the flower,
The field whereof thy pure soul is.
O virginal flower most of honour,
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

7. Thy blessed body was my bower,
Wherefore my bliss thou shalt not miss,
And all saints shall thee honour.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

8. With thy breasts so pure and clean
Thou hast me fed, wherefore, iwis,
Of heaven's bliss thou shalt be queen.
Iam ueni: coronaberis.

British Library, Arundel 83, f.134v

This poem celebrates the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin by taking the words of the Lover as an invitation from Christ: 'Come'. Along similar lines, two verses preserved in an English sermon on the Assumption make the scene into a dialogue (modernised from here):

Christ said to her:

"Come, my sweet, come, my flower,
Come, my culver, mine own bower,
Come, my mother, now with me:
For heaven's queen I make thee."

Then the body sat up, and bowed to Christ, and said:

"My sweet son, with all my love
I come with thee to thine above;
Where thou art now, let me be,
For all my love is laid on thee."

The Virgin is received by angels, in BL Harley 7398B f.306v

For verse 4 of Ryman's carol, compare the King James rendering of Song of Songs 4:7-8: 'Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon'. Or as Pearl's Maiden puts it, reporting Christ's invitation to her to leave the world and join him in heaven:

'My makeles Lambe that al may bete,'
Quoth scho, 'my dere destyne,
Me ches to hys make, althagh unmete
Sumtyme semed that assemble.
When I wente fro yor worlde wete,
He calde me to hys bonerte:
"Cum hyder to me, my lemman swete,
For mote ne spot is non in the."'

To a connoisseur of medieval terms of endearment, these poems and the Middle English translation of the Song of Songs in the Wycliffite Bible (written about a century before Ryman's carol) make a fascinating read: they give us endearments including lemman, darling, spouse, culver, and more. Perhaps the most famous invitation in the Song of Songs is the passage which the Wycliffite Bible translated as follows:

Lo! my derlyng spekith to me, My frendesse, my culuer, my faire spousesse, rise thou, haaste thou, and come thou; for wyntir is passid now, reyn is goon, and is departid awei. Flouris apperiden in oure lond, the tyme of schridyng is comun; the vois of a turtle is herd in oure lond, the fige tre hath brouyt forth hise buddis; vyneris flourynge han youe her odour. My frendesse, my fayre spousesse, rise thou, haaste thou, and come thou.

And Tyndale translated thus:

Behold my beloved said to me: up and haste my love, my dove, my beautiful and come, for now is winter gone and rain departed and past. The flowers appear in our country and the time is come to cut the vines. The voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. the figtree hath brought forth her figs, and the vine blossoms give a savour. Up, haste my love, my dove, in the holes of the rock and the secret and thy fashion beautiful.

And in the King James Bible is:

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.