[Jacopone da Todi, Fugio la croce, “Laude”, II, 13th century.]
First Brother speaks:
I Flee the Cross that doth my heart devour,
I cannot bear its ardour and its power.
I cannot bear this great and dreadful heat;
Far from the Cross, from Love, on flying feet
I haste away; my heart at every beat
Consumes me with that burning memory.
Second Brother:
Brother, why dost thou flee from this delight?
This is the joy I yearn for, day and night:
Brother, this is but weakness in my sight,
To flee from joy and peace so cravenly.
First Brother:
Brother, I flee, for I am wounded sore,
My heart is pierced and sundered to the core;
—Thou hast not felt the anguish that I bore,
Else wouldst thou speak in other words to me.
Second Brother:
Brother, I find the Cross all garlanded,
And with its blossoms do I wreathe my head;
It wounds me not;—nay, I am comforted;
The Cross is all delight and joy to me.
First Brother:
I find it full of arrows sharp, that dart
Forth from its side: they reach, they pierce my heart!
The Archer aims His shafts that tear and smart;
And through my armour He hath wounded me.
Second Brother:
I once was blind, but now I see the light;
Gazing upon the Cross I found my sight.
Beneath the Cross my soul is glad and bright;
Far from the Cross, I am in misery.
First Brother:
Not so with me: this Light hath made me blind!
So fierce the lustre that around me shined,
My head is giddy, and confused my mind,
Mine eyes are dazzled that I cannot see.
Second Brother:
Now can I speak, I that was once so dumb;
'Tis from the Cross that all my powers come;
Yea, by that Cross, of Thought and Love the Sum,
Now can I preach to men full potently.
First Brother:
The Cross hath made me dumb, who spoke so well;
In such a deep abyss my heart doth dwell,
I cannot speak, and nothing can I tell;
And none can understand nor talk with me.
Second Brother:
Lo, I was dead, and now new life is mine,
Life that was given me by the Cross Divine:
Yea, parted from the Cross, in death I pine,
Its Presence gives me all vitality.
First Brother:
I am not dead, but dying day by day,
Would God that I were dead and passed away!
Eternally I struggle, gasp, and pray,—
And nothing that I do can set me free.
Second Brother:
Brother, to me the Cross is all delight;
Beneath it dwells no torment nor affright:
Perchance thou hast not felt that Union's might,
Nor that Embrace, that clasps so tenderly i
First Brother:
Ah, thou art warmed; but I am in the Fire:
Thine the delight, and mine the flaming Pyre;
I cannot breathe within this furnace dire!
Thou hast not entered There, It burns not thee.
Second Brother:
Brother, thy words I cannot understand:
Why dost thou flee from gentle Love's demand?
Tell me thy state, and let me take thy hand,
The while I listen to this mystery!
First Brother:
Brother, thou breath'st the perfume of the Wine;
But I have drunk It, and no strength of mine
Can bear the onslaught of that Must Divine,
That ruthless, ceaseth not to torture me!
