Sabbath Poem (St. Teresa of Avila)
May 10, 2007
I Loved What I Could Love
I had a natural passion for fine clothes, excellent food, and
lively conversation about all matters that concern
the heart still alive. And even a passion
about my own
looks.
Vanities: they do not exist.
Have you ever walked across a stream stepping on
rocks so not to spoil a pair of shoes?
All we can touch, swallow, or say
aids in our crossing to God
and helps unveil the
soul.
Life smooths us, rounds, perfects, as does the river the stone,
and there is no place our Beloved is not flowing
though the current’s force you
may not always
like.
Our passions help to lift us.
I loved what I could love until I held God,
for then—all things—every world
disappeared.
* From Daniel Ladinsky’s Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (New York: Penguin Compass, 2002), page 292.
* Read at May 8 Graduation Party / House Blessing Ritual for Katharine Lee
* More about St. Theresa of Avila (1515-1582)