Seeking Authentic Voice

Wisdom is sweeter than honey, brings more joy than wine, illumines more than the sun, is more precious than jewels. She causes the ears to hear and the heart to comprehend. I love her like a mother, and she embraces me as her own child. I will follow her footprints and she will not cast me away. Makeda, Queen of Sheba ca. 1000 BCE, from Women in Praise of the Sacred, edited by Jane Hirshfield.

As a starved little bird, who sees and hears his mother's wings fluttering round about him to bring him food, whose heart is filled with love both for her and the food, who then, rejoicing - though in the nest he pines and is consumed with eagerness to follow her and fly - will thank her by his singing, far beyond his usual power of song, with tongues set free, So, I whenever the warm rays of the divine Sun, nourishing my heart, will shine on me with unaccustomed brightness, take up my pen, impelled by inner love; without quite knowing what it is I say, as best I can, I write God's praises down. By Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547) translated by Laura Anna Stortoni and Mary Prentice Lillie, in Women in Praise of the Sacred, edited by Jane Hirshfield: HarperPerennial 1994

I look at gold and world and see children's trinkets and sand. Heaven-joy carries me far beyond myself. If only my breath were a wind through-sweetened with praise, to carry Love's flames starwards, toward You. If only I, out of Love, could be the Phoenix kindled, could perish entirely out of bliss, into my one desire. Let me in thankfulness be Your mirror, God- Then Your own rays might be returned to You, in grace-words, in equal light. from On the Sweet Comfort Brought by Grace by Catharina Regina Von Greiffenberg translated by Jane Hirshfield with Samuel Michael Halevi printed in Women in Praise of the Sacred HarperPerennial 1994