Three Sabbath Poems (Aquinas)

~by St. Thomas Aquinas, (1225-1274)


CLOSE TO GOD

One may never have heard the sacred word “Christ,”
but be closer to God
than a priest or
nun.

LET ME EMBRACE YOU

I said to God, “Let me love you.”
And He replied, “Which part?”
“All of you, all of you,” I said.
“Dear,” God spoke, “you are as a mouse
wanting to impregnate a tiger.”

ON THE SABBATH

On the Sabbath try and make no noise that
goes beyond your
house.
Cries of passion between lovers
are exempt.


(from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices
from the East and West, translation Daniel Ladinsky
- Penguin Compass, 2002, on this website)