Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Christian : Catholic 13th Century	About Mechthild of Magdeburg Timeline (1207 - 1297)
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English version by Frank J. Tobin Original Language German	Then shall I leap into love
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Lover and Beloved           Recommended Books Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages, by Ursula King Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of Mechthild of Magdeburg, by Ulrike Wiethaus The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell German Mystical Writings: Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others, Edited by Karen J. Campbell Mechthild of Magdeburg: The Flowing Light of the Godhead (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Mechthild of Magdeburg / Translated by Frank J. Tobin More >>	I cannot dance, Lord, unless you lead me. If you want me to leap with abandon, You must intone the song. Then I shall leap into love, From love into knowledge, From knowledge into enjoyment, And from enjoyment beyond all human sensations. There I want to remain, yet want also to circle higher still.     -- from Mechthild of Magdeburg: The Flowing Light of the Godhead (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Mechthild of Magdeburg / Translated by Frank J. Tobin Amazon.com
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This brief poem dances with us into deeper and deeper communion. It begins with us in the passive state of total surrender to the Divine ("I cannot dance, Lord, unless you lead me"). And indeed we are led. We are led to leap with abandon, into love, into knowledge, into enjoyment, and then "beyond all human sensations."

And just when we think there is nowhere else to go, when we "want to remain" in that still and expansive unity, Mechthild hits us with an explosion of new and incomprehensible aspiration "to circle higher still."

Our journey with Mechthild carries us from the passive to the fiercely active, yet it is in the passive that we leap and dance, and it is in the most wildly yearning that we are most complete and content and quiet...

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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