CANTICLE III.
‘Amor de Caritate’
I.
Francis.
Love of Charity !
Why hast Thou wounded me ?
My heart is rent in twain
And burns with love of Thee.
It burns and bums again,
All restless with desire.
II.
‘Tis bound, it cannot break its chain ;
Consumed as wax before the fire :
Dying, it lives in sharpest pain —
Seeking with anguish and desire
To leave its furnace, but in vain.
How do I not expire,
In so great agony ?
I live, and yet I die.
In this consuming fire.
III.
I asked, not knowing, when I prayed.
For love of Christ, it seemed so sweet.
Me thought in peace I should have stayed ;
Then gained on high a glorious seat.
Alas ! what agony instead !
My heart is rent with burning heat.
No language can impart.
No words of mine explain.
How I die of sweetest pain.
How I live without a heart.
IV.
Left without heart, without desire,
Bereft of sentiment and thought ;
All beauty seems to me as mire,
Riches and happiness as nought.
A tree of Love, with fruit far higher,
Grows in my heart ; and it hath wrought
So sudden change in me.
And so complete withal.
That will, mind, senses, all.
Are cast out utterly.
V.
I’ve given all for Love alone.
Bartered the world and self away ;
Were all created things mine own,
I’d yield them up without delay.
And yet by Love I am outdone ;
Whither I’m led I cannot say.
By Love I am outdone,
Counted a fool withal ;
For, having sold my all.
My worth is wholly gone.
VI.
The friends who walked not in my way.
In vain recalled me. What has he
To give, who gives himself away?
Can a slave quit his slavery?
Sooner a stone will melt, I say.
Than Love will cease to reign in me.
This Love within my heart.
Like fire for ever glows;
Transform’d, united close
To Love — no more to part.
VII.
Fire nor sword can part in twain,
Nought can dissolve so close a tie ;
Sorrow nor death can e*er attain
The soul that has been raised so high ;
And from that height she sees how vain
All earthly things beneath her lie.
My soul, how hast thou soared
Unto so high an aim ?
From Christ the favour came,
Embrace thy sweetest Lord !
VIII.
Creatures are nothing in my sight ;
My soul for its Creator yearns ;
Heaven and earth yield no delight ;
For love of Christ all else it spurns.
Before the splendour of that Light,
The very sun to darkness turns.
What is the Cherub’s hoard
Of wisdom from above?
What is the Seraph’s love
To him who sees the Lord ?
IX.
Let no one chide me then, if I
Am foolish for the love of Christ.
From such a love ’tis vain to fly ;
No heart can such a power resist,
This Love consumes so mightily.
Who can in such a fire exist ?
O that I could impart
To one who’d pity me,
The piercing agony
That rends my very heart!
X.
Heaven and earth with one accord
Are ever crying out to me :
‘With all thy heart, O love the Lord,
For He created us that we
Might draw thy spirit heavenward,
To love Him Who hath so loved thee’
Lo ! what abundant beams
Of goodness all benign,
Flow from that Light Divine
In never-failing streams !
XI.
I would love more, if that might be ;
But since my very heart is gone,
Nothing of mine is left to me.
I’ve given all for Love alone,
That I may be entirely
Possessed of the Beloved One.
O Beauty infinite !
Ancient, yet ever new ;
‘Tis given me to view
Thy sweet. Eternal Light !
XII.
Seeing this Beauty, I am led
Out of myself, I know not where :
My heart, like molten wax, is made
The likeness of its Lord to bear.
O wonderful exchange ! instead
Of self, Christ’s image sweet to wear.
My heart, transfigured quite
By such a power of love,
Is sweetly drawn above
In rapture of delight
XIII.
The soul, thus bound by sweetest ties,
Is yearning for her Lord’s embrace ;
The more His Beauty meets her eyes,
The more she longs on Him to gaze ;
In Christ alone her treasure lies,
Forgetting self to seek His Face.
She cares for nought besides,
But to be His alone ;
For love of self is gone,
Where only Christ abides.
XIV.
Transformed by Christ, with Him made one ;
Held in her God’s Divine embrace ;
She reigns a queen — for she has won
Christ Jesus, with His gifts and grace ;
Sorrow and pain alike are gone
Where sin no longer holds a place.
No guilty marks remain ;
Dead is the man of sin ;
The soul IS pure within.
And freed from every stain.
XV.
In Christ I’m newly born again : —
The old man dead, the new restored ;
And whilst my heart is cleft in twain.
Transfixed by love as by a sword.
My spirit, all on fire, would fain
Behold the beauty of its Lord.
I cry out ardently.
While clasped in His embrace,
Give me, O Love! The grace
To die for love of Thee!
XVI.
I languish for the love of Thee,
For Thy embraces sweet I pine ;
Without Thee life is death to me.
With sighs and tears this heart of mine
Craves Thy return, that it may be
Transformed by Thee, made wholly Thine.
O Love ! make no delay —
hasten unto me !
Unite me close to Thee,
Consume my heart away.
XVII.
Behold my pain, sweet Love, I pray ;
This burning heat I cannot bear :
I know not what I do or say.
Led on by Love, I know not where.
I go, as one who’d lost his way —
Weary, and wandering here and there.
I know not how I may
Endure this agony,
Which so transfixes me.
And rends my heart away.
XVIII.
Robb’d of my heart, I cannot see
What there remains for me to do ;
If one should ask me : ‘Can it be
That Christ wants idle love from you ?’
I say, there is no help for me.
My heart being riven through and through.
This Love in me hath wrought,
With such consuming fir
I’m left without desire.
Or even power of thought
XIX.
Once I could speak, but now I’m dumb ;
I saw — now cannot see at all ;
To what a strange abyss I’m come !
Though held, I run ; I rise, yet fall ;
I speak, though mute I am become ;
Pursue, and am pursued withal.
O Love eternal ! why
Am I a fool for Thee ?
Wherefore hast Thou cast me
In such a fire to die ?
XX.
Christ.
Control Thy burning love for Me ;
For virtue without rule is vain :
In seeking Me so ardently,
Renew thy mind and heart again ;
And let well-ordered charity
Inform the heart wherein I reign.
As by the fruit it bears,
A tree is to be known ;
So by this test alone
Its real worth appears.
XXI.
For I created everything,
In number and in measure too ;
Each to its end is hastening,
And all are kept in order due;
How much more Charity, as being
The very soul of order true !
Why is that heart of thine
By Love so foolish made ?
It is that thou hast strayed
So far beyond the line.
XXII.
Francis.
Christ ! Thou hast robb’d my heart from me,
Then why dost Thou my ardour blame ?
For, since I am changed into Thee,
I can no longer be the same :
As red-hot iron seems to be
All fire, and sun-lit air a flame.
For each of these is seen
Changed to another form ;
So doth Thy Love transform
The heart Thou hast made clean.
XXIII.
Thus, having lost its quality.
The creature’s acting-power is gone ;
For, as it only lives by Thee,
Its works bear fruit through Thee alone ;
Transform’d by Christ, and verily
Changed into the Beloved One !
Let all impute to Thee,
Whatever by me is wrought,
And if it please Thee not,
Then blame Thyself — not me.
XXIV.
Eternal Wisdom ! well I know
That I’m a fool for love of Thee ;
But since thy Love hath dealt the blow,
I’ve bartered self away to be
Chang’d into Thee anew, and so
Lead a new life, and utterly
Casting myself aside ;
In Love’s almighty power,
I break through every door,
And with my Love abide !
XXV.
My heart was set on fire by Thee ;
Why bid me then my love restrain ?
Thou gavest Thyself utterly
For me ; — Can I give less again?
Thy littleness sufficed for me ;
Thy greatness how can I contain ?
If any fault there be,
‘Tis Thine, O Lord, not mine ;
For ’twas Thy Love Divine
Traced out this path for me.
XXVI.
Love was too powerful for Thee ;
From Heaven to Earth it drew Thee down
So low, that Thou didst will to be
The last of men, despised, unknown,
Homeless and poor for love of me.
To make Thy riches all my own.
So, in Thy Life and Death,
Most surely didst Thou prove
Thy Heart was fired with love
All fathomless in depth
XXVII.
Thy Life was spent for Love indeed,
For Wisdom was by Love outdone ;
Love showed in every word and deed ;
Regardless of Thyself alone ;
And in the Temple thou didst plead,
‘ Come to Me, every weary one !’
All ye who thirst, draw nigh
Unto the Living Well
Of Love ineffable,
Sweet Gift of God most High !
XXVIII.
Was that Love wise, O Saviour mine ?
Which drew Thee down on earth below.
Born, not of flesh, but Love Divine ;
Made Man to save us all from woe,
Thou didst embrace that Cross of Thine
For love of us, nay, more, I know,
Thou didst not speak a word
When Pilate judg’d Thy cause,
In order, on the Cross,
To die of Love, O Lord !
XXIX.
Thy wisdom, Lord, was hidden quite.
Thy power, too. Thou didst repress ;
Love only was revealed to sight :
A Love all boundless in excess.
Which overflowed with endless might.
And poured forth all its tenderness.
This mighty Love it was
That led Thee captive, when
For love of sinful men,
Thou didst embrace the Cross.
XXX.
Then, Jesus, if I overflow
With love so sweet and so intense,
Who shall reprove me, if I go
Out of myself — bereft of sense ?
Since that same Love constrain’d Thee so,
As to subdue Omnipotence !
Love ! how can I be
Afraid of foolishness ?
If through it I possess
And am possess’d by Thee !
XXXI.
This Love which makes me foolish, lo !
It took away Thy Wisdom quite.
This Love, which makes me languish so.
It robbed Thee of Thy very might ;
Against the power of Love, I know,
‘Tis useless to resist or fight.
My sentence hath been passed.
I die for love of Thee !
There is no rest for me :
I die of love, at last !
XXXII.
O Love, O Love, Thou hast so wounded me,
That I can cry out nothing else but ‘Love !’
O Love, O Love, Thou hast so ravished me,
That all my heart is drawn to Thee above.
I long so ardently
My debt of love to pay,
O grant me, Love, I pray,
To die for love of Thee.
XXXIII.
Jesus, my Love, my Love, behold my woe !
Jesus, my Love, my Love, O comfort me !
Jesus, my Love, Thou hast inflamed me so ;
Jesus, my Love, I die for love of Thee !
O make my heart with love for ever glow.
O grant that I may be
Transform’d with Thee, in truth and charity.
O Love, O Love, O Love !
Everything speaks of Thee ;
O Love, so deep thou art.
The more thou fillest the heart,
The more it longs for Thee !
XXXIV.
O Love, O Love, Thou dost encircle close
The heart that yields to Thy Almighty power ;
Thou art its vesture and its sweet repose ;
And so it cries out ‘Love !’ for evermore :
It never can repay the debt it owes.
O Love, O Love, I love Thee more and more ;
O Love, O Love, methinks that I shall die ;
O Love, O Love, Thou hast so mastered me —
O make me Thine, my Love, eternally !
I languish for the love of Thee !
O Love most amiable !
How sweet to die for Thee !
O Love ineffable !
Kindle Thy love in me !
XXXV.
O Love, O Love, my heart is broken quite,
O Love, O Love, Thou hast so wounded me.
O Jesus! draw me to Thy beauty bright.
O Love, by Thee I’m rapt in ecstasy !
O Living Love ! cast me not from Thy sight !
O Love, O Love, my soul is one with Thee !
O Love, Thou art its Life ;
From Thee it ne’er can part,
For Thou has rent my heart,
In such a loving strife.
XXXVI
My Love, my Love, Jesus ! for Thee I pine ;
Love ! grant unto me
To die, embracing Thee !
O my sweet Love ! Jesus, my Spouse Divine !
O Love, O Love, I pray that I may die !
O Love, O Love, O Jesus so benign !
Transform me into Thee eternally !
See how I suffer from this love of Thine !
I am no longer mine ;
Jesus, my Hope Divine !
Rest thou, my heart, for ever in His Love !