The mandrakes give forth fragrance
and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother’s breast!
If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.
I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother
and into the chamber of her that conceived me
I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.
O that his left hand were under my head
and that his right hand embraced me! I have adjured you
O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up
nor awaken love until it please

Song of Solomon 7:13—8:4

Here in the central insight of this division, Solomon is stressing the importance of always adhering to the working methods he has outlined. Do not deviate and do not try to cut corners and mechanically make things happen.

The mandrakes, or "love apples", in the first verse are an aphrodisiac, but the significance of the choice fruits, new and old, Adam Clarke says, must be "left to the reader’s sagacity and prudence", perhaps being used by Solomon as a metaphor for the joy of creative accomplishment.

Creative Aphrodisiacs
Aphrodisiacs, named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, are substances used to stimulate sexual desire, and a wide variety have been employed since ancient times, and I was quite surprised to find several mentioned here and elsewhere in the "Song", including figs, nuts, cinnamon and saffron, discussed in a recent newspaper article.

Many creative people adopt special routines and have favorite places to work, which act as creative aphrodisiacs and so help them get into the creative mood. The following foibles of great creators, reported by T. Sharper Knowlson in “Originality”, may well be describing their pet routines for accessing the creative mood:: "Shelly found that munching bread was helpful in composing, just as Addison and Sheridan liked to have a bottle of wine handy, and Schiller a flask of Old Rhenish — also rotten apples in his desk . . . Dr Johnson needed a purring cat, and orange peel and tea within reach. Jokai could not write unless he had violet ink . . .

Thomas Hardy, prior to beginning work, always removed his boots or slippers . . . some require motor excitation; they work only when walking or else prepared for work by physical exercise. And yet there are others, who, like Milton, Descartes, Leibnitz, and Rossini, find the horizontal position more advantageous . . . .

Here then, it seems, the girl has made the necessary preparations for the lover’s visit, but he has not showed up, implying perhaps that our creativity may sometimes seem elusive, and not at our beck and call.

She then muses on what she would like to do when he does turn up, apparently describing the things she would do if only she had easy access to him — if only he lived in the same house like a little brother, so that could control his actions. Several phrases also express her impatience. If her little brother was just a toddler, this section implies, the girl would be free to pick him up and kiss him and show her affectionate publicly without upsetting anybody. Kissing and caressing her lover in public, however, would meet with stern disapproval.

You Will Never Have Complete Control
Solomon’s key lesson here seem to be that no matter how experienced or accomplished we might become in our creative work, we shall never have complete, mechanical control of the inspirational process, which is typified by the sexual activity described in this section.

We shall always have to play by the rules that Solomon has set down for us. As we have seen, however, that does not mean, however, that we should simply sit back and do nothing and "wait for inspiration to strike", a popular misconception of the way creative people work. On the other hand, neither can we force it – as was explained earlier, a fundamental principle that Solomon stresses once again in the very last line because of its crucial importance.

It’s Not Clockwork!
This principle was also understood by the creative Lewis Carroll, of whom biographer Michael Bakewell says: "Although the dialogue ‘came of itself’ he refused to force the story along. He could not, as he put it ‘set invention going like a clock’, and inspiration had a way of coming at the most inconvenient times".

Napoleon Hill, who apparently learned this principle from researching the success secrets of America’s most powerful business tycoons, said: "You cannot entirely control your subconscious mind, but you can voluntarily hand over to it any plan, desire, or purpose which you wish transformed into concrete form".