Love is like the changing room in Mr Benn’s shop

Love is like the changing room
In Mr Benn’s shop.

You know, “As if by magic, the shop-keeper appeared”
And let you choose the costume you desired
And led you to the room
Where all roads change.

And stepping out beyond the door
The world is entirely new
The landscape and the sky transformed
And so are you.

Love is like a window
In an office wall.

You must have been mistaken
But suddenly the view
No longer looks out on a Croydon Car Park
No, in every hue,
Segments of exquisite glass
Have suddenly made bright
With promise and transfiguring joy
An ordinary sight.

And every vehicle merely parked
Seems now poised or at rest
A tiny pause before “they’re off”
On some heroic quest.

Love is not blind
It sees the world
As it was first intended
When intimacy, joy and grace
Were passionately blended.

The world is as a Burning Bush
And that Celestial fire
That sometimes hides from
World-worn eyes
Is the source of your desire.

From Holy Joy and Holy Chaos
The spiritual world arises
As Love itself breathes destiny in
And sprinkles in surprises.

Awake North wind and Come thou South
And blow upon my Garden
And see where the vine is flourishing
The pomegranates growing.

Who is this
That comes up from the wilderness
Leaning on her Beloved?

I am come into my Garden,
My love shall not be hurried.

I am my beloved’s
And my beloved is mine.
From a well of living waters
Let us drink Celestial Wine!

Sarah de Nordwall November 2007

Mr Benn is my favourite cartoon character, who sprang upon the world in 1971. The following article about him is pure delight.. how could it not be; beginning as it does with the words “Mr Benn lives at No. 52 Festive Road…”. Thank you, illustrator David McKee for your joy and wisdom in animated form.


The final verses of the poem reference different quotations from the Song of Songs.  Ch7 v13, Ch3 v6, Ch8 v 5, Ch 5 v1, Ch6 v3 and Ch4 v15.   If you want a gorgeous treat you can hear it being sung in Hebrew here, where it also appears written in Hebrew and English. Thank you Mechon-Mamre.org  for all your work, singing and glorious proclaiming.