Set Me on Fire
by Mechthild of MagdeburgOriginal Language German
O soaring eagle! darling lamb!
O glowing spark! Set me on fire!
How long must I endure this thirst?
One hour is already too long,
A day is as a thousand years
When Thou art absent!
Should this continue for eight days
I would rather go down to Hell
(Where indeed I already am!)
Than that God should hide Himself
From the loving soul;
For that were anguish greater than human death,
Pain beyond all pain, The nightingale muse ever sing
Because its nature is love;
Whoso would take that from it
Would brink in death,
Ah! Mighty Lord! Look on my need!
-- from The Mystic in Love: A Treasury of Mystical Poetry, Edited by Shelley Gross |
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