I Am My Beloved's, Song of Solomon 6:3 Wall Art

Two rings on dried flowers

The painting is a small still life set in the middle of the paper. Two plain gold rings lie together, one leaning against the other, their polished curves catching light in touches of ocher and white. Beneath them is a loose spray of dried botanicals: tiny cream blossoms, feathery rust-red sprigs, golden grass heads and two broad sage-green leaves.

There is no couple, no church and no date, which leaves the image open to any marriage. The words sit above in two lines of brown script: “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine,” followed by Song of Solomon 6:3.

What does Song of Solomon 6:3 mean?

The Song of Solomon, also called the Song of Songs, is a collection of love poems between a bride and her bridegroom, and it is unusual in the Bible for how frankly it celebrates desire and delight. Chapter 6 opens with friends asking the woman where her beloved has gone. She answers that he has gone down to his garden, and then she says the line on this print, completing it with “he feedeth among the lilies.”

The phrase is a mutual belonging. Neither partner owns the other more; each gives themselves and receives the other. An almost identical line appears earlier, in 2:16, with the order reversed (“My beloved is mine, and I am his”), as if the vow grows more certain as the poem goes on.

In Hebrew the verse is only four words, ani l'dodi v'dodi li, and it is widely engraved inside wedding rings. Jewish tradition has long read the Song as the love between God and Israel, and it is read at Passover; Christian writers from the early centuries saw in it Christ and the Church. Both readings sit alongside the plain meaning, which is a couple in love.

A gift for a wedding or an anniversary

This is a print for newlyweds: for the wedding day itself, a bridal shower or the first home together. It is also a thoughtful anniversary present, especially for couples who had the verse read at their ceremony or engraved in their rings. Hang it in the bedroom, above a dresser, or near the wedding photos. The warm golds and rust tones sit well with natural wood and linen.