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Unless otherwise noted, the original translations and poems on this site are by middlingpoet and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Category Archives: mysticism
Heavenly Salem
Here’s an early Christian hymn, sung at the dedication of church buildings. For my Protestant friends, it’s kind of like “The Church’s One Foundation” (S. J. Stone, 1866) — only better. Blessed City Blessèd city, heavenly Salem, vision dear of … Continue reading
Posted in Anglican, Catholic, mysticism
Tagged anthems, bridal mysticism, Christianity, Hymns, Latin, Poetry, urban dwelling
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Late Have I Loved You
A famous Augustinian prayer, on this Feast Day of St. Augustine: Late have I loved you, Beauty so old and so new: Late have I loved you. And see, you were within And I was within the external world And … Continue reading
Posted in Church Year, mysticism
Tagged Augustine, Beauty, Christianity, love, Poetry, Prayer
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What Love?
What love is this of thine, that cannot be In thine infinity, O Lord, confined, Unless it in thy very person see Infinity, and finity, conjoined? What! Hath thy Godhead, as not satisfied, Married our manhood, making it its bride? … Continue reading
He sent no angel to our race
I first heard this hymn (copied below) in a Lutheran church, on the Feast of the Transfiguration. It must (imperatively!) be sung to the original 15th-century Agincourt tune; otherwise, it loses vigor. The unique stanza is the second. “He sent no angel … Continue reading
Posted in Church Year, Hymns, Lent, mysticism
Tagged angels, Christianity, Hymns, mysticism, Poetry
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How Things Really Are
Transfiguration For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’, On that one mountain where all moments meet, The daily veil that covers the sublime In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet. There were no angels full of eyes … Continue reading
Without End
I saw full surely that ere God made us he loved us; which love was never slacked, nor shall ever be. And in this love he hath done all his works; and in this love he hath made all things … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, mysticism
Tagged Christianity, medieval, mysticism, Poetry
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As Waters unto the Sea
The old second-person inflections here (“thou –st”) are a bit thick. But the soul of this hymn, especially when sung to Tallis’s haunting Third Tune, is stunning. Thou wast, O God: And thou was blest Before the world begun, Of thine … Continue reading
Everywhere
Thou art a Sea without a Shore, A Sun without a Sphere; Thy Time is now and evermore; Thy Place is everywhere. ~ John Mason, 1645-1694; from “How shall I sing that Majesty“
On the loss of a loved one
In Memoriam: Preface Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in … Continue reading
The Question
This poem seems suitable for Eastertide. It’s out of the files, perhaps from 10 years ago. I think it was written under the influence of sixteenth-century pastoral poetry–Raleigh, Spenser, and the like–with a good bit of nineteenth-century Blake thrown in. I … Continue reading
Posted in Divine Riddles, mysticism
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The Middle Room 