“Though Love appears far off,
you will move into its depth.”
Hadewijch of Brabant (13th c.)
from The Mirror of Simple Souls
She is alone in love, the Phoenix alone.
The soul is solitary in love,
the soul has all and has nothing,
she knows all and knows nothing,
yet she swims in the sea of joy,
swims in the sea of delights flowing and streaming
down from the Godhead.
The soul feels no joy
for she is joy
swimming and floating in joy.
She lives in joy. Joy lives in her.
Marguerite Porete (13-14th c.)
“You can make blossom in me
flowers of fire.”
Huang O (1498-1569)
THE POETRY PLACE 