Dew (from Love's Seven Names)
by HadewijchEnglish version by Mother Columba Hart
Original Language Dutch
Dew is a name under which Love works:
When that Fire has burned up all in its violence,
The dew falls, imparting moisture everywhere
Like a strong wind of unheard-of sweetness.
It calls forth the kiss of noble natures
And gives them constancy in the midst of changes.
Love's zeal engulfs her gifts to such an extent
That the dew's gentle action must always be present.
Then are appeased all the storms
That previously arose in the soul;
Calm reigns at last,
When the loved one receives from her Beloved
The kisses that truly pertain to love.
When he takes possession of the loved soul in every way,
Love drinks in these kisses and tastes them to the end.
As soon as Love thus touches the soul,
She eats its flesh and drinks its blood.
Love that thus dissolves the loved soul
Sweetly leads them both
To the indivisible kiss --
That same kiss which fully unites
The Three Persons in one sole Being.
Thus the noble dew appeases the conflagration
That had been raging in the land of Love.
 | -- from Hadewijch: The Complete Works (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by Mother Columba Hart |
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