You Who Want

You who want
knowledge,
seek the Oneness
within

There you
will find
the clear mirror
already waiting.

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Tighten

Tighten
to nothing
the circle
that is
the world's things

Then the Naked
circle
can grow wide,
enlarging,
embracing all

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

All Things

All things
are too small
to hold me,
I am so vast

In the Infinite
I reach
for the Uncreated

I have
touched it,
it undoes me
wider than wide

Everything else
is too narrow

You know this well,
you who are also there

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Love's Constancy

Anyone who has waded
Through Love's turbulent waters,
Now feeling hunger and now satiety,
Is untouched by the season
Of withering or blooming,
For in the deepest and most dangerous waters,
On the highest peaks,
Love is always the same.

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Madness of Love

The madness of love
Is a blessed fate;
And if we understood this
We would seek no other:
It brings into unity
What was divided,
And this is the truth:
Bitterness it makes sweet,
It makes the stranger a neighbor,
And what was lowly it raises on high.

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Love Has Subjugated Me

Love has subjugated me:

To me this is no surprise,
For she is strong and I am weak.
She makes me
Unfree of myself,
Continually against my will.

She does with me what she wishes;
Nothing of myself remains to me;

Formerly I was rich,

Now I am poor: everything is lost in love

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Love Has Seven Names

Love has seven names.
Do you know what they are?
Rope, Light, Fire, Coal
make up its domain.

The others, also good,
more modest but alive:
Dew, Hell, the Living Water.
I name them here (for they
are in the Scriptures),
explaining every sign
for virtue and form.
I tell the truth in signs.
Love appears every day
for one who offers love.
That wisdom is enough.

Love is a ROPE, for it ties
and holds us in its yoke.
It can do all, nothing snaps it.

[...] Read more

poem by Hadewijch of Antwerp
Added by Silvia Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!