Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Christian : Catholic 13th Century	About Marguerite Porete Timeline (1260? - 1310)
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Marguerite Porete | Next Poem >>
English version by Ellen L. Babinsky	Humility
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Birth, Rebirth   Death   Silence       Recommended Books Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages, by Ursula King Marguerite Porete: Mirror of Simple Souls (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Ellen Babinsky Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, by Bernard Mcginn Sacred Voices: Essential Women's Voices Through the Ages, Edited by Mary Ford-Grabowsky The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, by Amy M. Hollywood More >>	This Humility, who is aunt and mother, is daughter of Divine majesty and so is born from Divinity. Deity is her mother and grandmother of her branches, by whom the buds make such great fruitfulness. We are silent about them, for speaking ruins them. This one, that is, Humility, has given the stem and the fruit from the buds, because she is there, close to the peace of this Fairness who unencumbers her from works, and turns away the speaking, makes dark there the pondering. This Fairness unencumbers, no one encumbers her with anything. This one is freed from all service, for she lives by freeness. Whoever serves, he is not free, whoever senses, he has not died, whoever desires, he wills, whoever wills, he begs, whoever begs, he has a lack of divine sufficiency.     -- from Marguerite Porete: Mirror of Simple Souls (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Ellen Babinsky Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Marguerite Porete | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

There is a lot of richness to discover in this poem by Marguerite Porete. I'll just suggest a few things to contemplate...

Why is she singing these praises of "humility"? What do most people mean when they speak of humility? Do you think a mystic's understanding of humility is different?

Notice that Marguerite Porete describes "Divinity" and "Deity" in feminine terms as "mother" and "grandmother." Bold, dangerously bold, in Christian Europe. But that feminine language, mixed with the imagery of a tree and "buds" and "fruitfulness" conveys a mysticism of nature and life and growth that feels a lot like the writings of Hildegard von Bingen.

"We are silent about them, for speaking ruins them." What a great line. The mystic's silence. Trying to contain the vast, formless Truth in words necessarily entails an editing. The divide between the words and the reality is so great, that silence alone can convey the full meaning.

And those final closing lines about "freeness" and the traps that keep us from knowing it...

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.