Contemplative Haven

Jul 11 2008

Lead Me

Published by gabrielle at 1:27 am under Mysticism, Prayer, Saints

I cannot dance, O Lord,
Unless You lead me,
If You wish me to leap joyfully,
Let me see You dance and sing -

Then I will leap into Love -
And from Love into Knowledge,
And from Knowledge into the Harvest,
That sweetest Fruit beyond human sense.

There I will stay with You, whirling.

[Mechthild of Magdeburg]

5 responses so far

5 Responses to “Lead Me”

# kristinon 11 Jul 2008 at 10:12 am

how incredibly soulful, vibrant, lovely & stirring to my spirit. thank you for sharing this, gabrielle. tell me more about the source of this poem, please.

(((hugs)))

P.S. this one didn’t need a video and/or music included in the post…somehow, there is music rising up in my soul at this very moment.
# gabrielleon 11 Jul 2008 at 11:03 am

Kristin, it is from Mechthild of Magdeburg’s, “The Flowing Light of the Godhead”. You can find this portion online at Poet Seers or Poetry Chaikhana, although in a slightly different translation. I’m glad it stirred your spirit, my little dervish. Just be careful with that ankle.
# Carolon 11 Jul 2008 at 4:03 pm

It’s easy to imagine Him a graceful, mirthful Lord, for when was He ever not exactly that? But I, whirl? I’d need some decent ankle-straps, first–I’m Godzilla in work sneaks. It’s funny, tho’ — a few years ago when a direly suffering friend was now dying much too early and nearly 100% unhappily, I sent her an e-page about how He was coming to dance with her.. I thought of it again with all the old ladies who were dying. I could so easily picture Him rising from within and lifting them in a “Talitha cumi” dance, and whirling them out of this crazy place. Maybe that answers what I ponder below?:

“from Knowledge into the Harvest” — I’d first thought she’d meant into the world (while not of it), but she then goes on to call it a sweet Fruit.
# lucyon 11 Jul 2008 at 8:22 pm

lovely. thank you so much for sharing this. i always love the images of dancing and swirling, arms wide open to God and the world.
# gabrielleon 14 Jul 2008 at 12:58 am

Carol, this is the translation from the “Poet Seers” site:

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.

We can see that much depends on the translation…and which is more correct, I cannot say…

My own feeling is that she may be talking about contemplation, from the beginnings of infused contemplation into a mystical direct experience of God with sensory consolations, but that she desires to go beyond these consolations to the heights of contemplation. I don’t have “The Flowing Light of the Godhead”, but I would really love to read it in its entirety.

Lucy, I love those images too! Receptivity and wild abandon, but with grace, when God is in charge of the whirlwind/vortex…