{"id":2608,"date":"2008-03-31T18:55:07","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T02:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2608"},"modified":"2008-04-01T10:34:39","modified_gmt":"2008-04-01T18:34:39","slug":"got-any-gay-medieval-hebrew-poetry-mate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2608","title":{"rendered":"Got Any Gay Medieval Hebrew Poetry, Mate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I was asked if there are any medieval poems in which there is explicit homosexuality. I am unaware of any, and it is precisely because they are ambiguous that there has been controversy about their meanings. This poem by Moses Ibn Ezra is as explicit as I could find:<\/span><\/p>\n

Desire of my heart and delight of my eyes –<\/p>\n

A fawn beside me and a cup in my hand!<\/p>\n

\nMany admonish me, but I do not heed;<\/p>\n

Come, O gazelle, and I will subdue them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time will destroy them and death shepherd them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come, O gazelle, rise and feed me<\/span><\/p>\n

With the honey of your lips, and satisfy me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do they hold back my heart, why?<\/span><\/p>\n

If because of sin and guilt,<\/span><\/p>\n

I will be ravished by your beauty – God is there!<\/span><\/p>\n

Pay no attention to the words of my oppressor, <\/span><\/p>\n

A perverse man – come and try me!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was enticed and we went up to his mother’s house,<\/span><\/p>\n

And he gave his shoulder to my burden.<\/span><\/p>\n

Night and day I was only with him.<\/span><\/p>\n

I undressed him, and he undressed me;<\/span><\/p>\n

I sucked his lips and he sucked mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I left my heart as a pledge in his eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

The burden of my guilt was also weighted in his hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

He sought enmity, and inflicted his anger,<\/span><\/p>\n

And angrily cried, “Enough; leave me! <\/span><\/p>\n

Do not force me, and do not entice me.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not be angry with me, gazelle, to destruction –<\/span><\/p>\n

Extraordinary is your will, my dear, extraordinary!<\/span><\/p>\n

Kiss your beloved and fulfill his desire.<\/span><\/p>\n

If it is in your soul to give life, revive me –<\/span><\/p>\n

Or if your desire is to kill, kill me!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro writes: I was asked if there are any medieval poems in which there is explicit homosexuality. I am unaware of any, and it is precisely because they are ambiguous that there has been controversy about their meanings. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marc-b-shapiro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}