Psalm 45

By now I hope you have worked out that there are some things to leave outside the door while looking at Viv's work. So we move on to Psalm 45. I see this as the 'his 'n' her psalm', being as it seems to be about an impending royal wedding. There's a lot to offer the visual imagination in this psalm, with its oils and spices and ivory palaces and stringed instruments and gold-woven robes, and you might be able to pick out some of those things here. I can't help feeling rather wistful about the about-to-be wed here: she's urged to 'forget your people' and so you will find some tears if you look hard; but somewhere in the lofty language of this psalm is a young couple barely out of (in our society now, at least) childhood taking an important step in their lives, and so you will find some soft pyjama-like fabric here and there. They are human, however the psalm links them, him especially, with the Almighty. A wedding too is about... well, you know... the sex thing; and so I've put a few hints around for that, such as a rose. You can't be de-flowered without there being a flower to start with. There are other things too, which you really need to see in person; it's cruel of me to put so much texture in these psalms, and then say effectively 'please do not touch', but that's what I've done. I know that 'Don't' plays an important part in the first bit of the Bible, and I'm tempted to make a play on that correspondence! But I will leave that to you to think about, and in the meantime I have provided some baby wipes so that if anyone does  want to touch, then they can salve their conscience by wiping that chocolate cake off their hands first (I'm assuming and hoping in advance that the Cathedral supplies this).

So you might see a green line between him 'n 'her, and some correspondences on each side of the line, but not quite so obvious as those couples who wear identical anoraks; but correspondences there are, and I envisage his arrows accompanied by her prayers. The psalmist is there too, right at the top with his sharp tongue. Enjoy!