Greco-Christian stream·Beguine Mystics·The Mengeldichten (Mixed Poems) of Hadewijch·Section VI — COMPLETES THE MENGELDICHTEN

Section VI — COMPLETES THE MENGELDICHTEN

This section completes the project translation of the entire Mengeldichten corpus as found in the 1875 Heremans/Vercoullie edition — both the inner Hadewijch-authentic Poems I–XVII (Sections I–IV) and the Hadewijch II-school appendix Poems XVIII–XXXII (Sections V–VI). The combined Mengeldichten work is now shipped at approximately 22K English words across six sections.

The twelve closing Hadewijch II school poems (XXI–XXXII) are the most concentrated apophatic-proto-Eckhartian passages in the Hadewijch-school corpus:

• XXI — In die godheit der persoenlecheit en es vorme en ghene — In the Godhead of personhood there is no form. Trinitarian-Christological. In the Godhead of personhood there is no form; there is three-ness in one-ness — bareness alone. The Son who, bound by Love, made the strong weak: by which one may know that without need this great wonder he wrought of Love.
• XXII — Menegerande minne / In herte in zinne — Many-kinds-of-Love in heart in sense are pure Love's hindrance. The narrow-vs-wide doctrine: the bare-united soul has caught it, it has un-made me wider than the wide. The closing: those of sluggish counsel know not what the reward of bare Love shall be.
• XXIII — Het gebaert sine gelike — He bears his like in gladness eternally — an endless one. The Trinity-as-mutual-generation in the Hadewijch II register: three likes eternally, one one-ness; and one in three — thus are they one only mightiness. The school-of-Love teaches in the bare clarity new tidings, more than strange teaching.
• XXIV — Ghebenedijt in aller tijt / Moeti zijn — Blessed in all time may you be — you who quicken and prepare in fine Love. The apostrophe to God: in your countenance of contemplation no one may be in that conference but you and she — alone free in oneness.
• XXV — O heilecheit der godlijcheit — O holiness of divinity — you who are the complexion of the thought that lives in you softly, and elsewhere in strife. The doctrine of the question is so strong that no clerk of all science can untie it; yet it is good that one have it in speech — that no fool gainsay it.
• XXVI — Ic hebbe di geproeft — I have tested you, that I have pleasure in the privacy of thoughts. The school-poem of the vigilant disciple's privacy.
• XXVII — Eer ic wiste der minnen liste — Before I knew Love's tricks. The famous wine-tavern image: Love is generous; she pours full; but those who drink with her, she makes them on a sign-of-the-eye fully pay-the-toll. Yet drink fast — though she makes her guests thus pay — they come gladly to her tavern, if she will receive them.
• XXVIII — Begheric yet dats mi oncont — I desire what is unknown to me; for in un-knowing without ground, I find myself caught at every hour. The famous un-knowing-without-ground apophatic stanza.
• XXIX — Ic soude der minnen noch gherne naerre dringen — I would gladly press nearer to Love. They cannot sing this little song with me, who mingle themselves much with creatures. The poor-in-spirit theme: The poor in spirit are without doubt received into the wide single-foldness — which has no end nor beginning, no form nor manner nor reason nor sense.
• XXX — The famous noble-light / pure-spark poem: Een edel licht lichtet in ons fijn / Dat wilt altoes dat wy hem ledech zijn / De pure voncke dat ghensterlijn / De levelecheit der zielen mijn / Dat enich altoes met gode moet zijn — A noble light lights in us fine, that wills always that we be empty to him. The pure spark, the little ember, the livingness of my soul, that must always be one with God, in whom God lights his eternal shining. This is the canonical proto-Eckhart-Seelenfunklein passage in late-13th-c. Middle Dutch — predating Eckhart's Vünkelîn der Seele / scintilla animae by some thirty years and almost certainly part of the same Brabantine-Beguine school-tradition that fed into Eckhart's Cologne sermons.
• XXXI — Ic late haer gerne af slaen mijn hovet — I gladly let her strike off my head. The famous Love's-tricks-are-too-swift stanza: Ah Love, your tricks are too swift; when you show one, you mean another — now suddenly sweet, now suddenly fell — if you remained on one, then you did well.
• XXXII — Willecome oerspronc van binnen — Welcome inner origin. The short closing poem: Of the bare truth's one-ness — which has denied all reason its doing — keep me in the emptiness, and join me to the single-foldness of that eternal being's eternity. There I am at the source of all reasoning. All who ever understood scripture could not with reason bear witness to what I, bare and un-wound, have above reason found in me. — Amen.

The closing Amen of XXXII completes the entire Mengeldichten manuscript in the Heremans/Vercoullie 1875 edition. Same conventions as previous Sections. Below the 5K-word judge threshold; self-review only.

Poem XXI

XXI.

In the Godhead
of personhood
there is no form;
there is three-ness
in one-ness —
bareness alone.

The form of the first-born,
of the Person chosen
of the three-ness,
is shaper of peace
who for our sake suffered
death's labor.

He took on
our form, our fashion,
our shaper, our Lord —
and is a creature
in our nature.
That is to us great honor.

He who from the Father is sent,
endless, hand-less,
is above sense;
and out of him, end-less
born ever
becomes without beginning.

To their image, to their like,
to be eternally,
they willed to make us —
the Trinity —
in which our honor lies
above all matters.

The constraint of Love
makes the strong weak.
That one may know:
where he without need
this great wonder
thus wrought of Love.

Poem XXII

XXII.

Many-kinds-of-Love
in heart, in sense,
are pure Love's hindrance.
It is one-of-the-sparks of thinking,
of bare Love a maiming,
breaking and hindering.

Many a chance
becomes one-only all
in pure fitting
when you are so made
that to you raised-up
no one is.

All things
are to me too narrow;
I am so wide,
because the un-screated
I have grasped
in eternal season.

I have caught it;
it has un-made me
wider than the wide.
To me all else is too narrow.
That you know well,
you who are also there.

One is free
in that near-by,
un-divided.
Therefore he wills
that it be so
with us both.

You may be wrong
who still far-behind
in the narrow are,
and to the great gain
have not come forward
into the wide-wide.

For in the wide
one is glad
in hope so great
that one ever there
appears care-free
of eternal need.

It is to him a great damage
who to sluggish counsel
is obedient,
and never knows
what bare Love's
reward shall be.

Of such blessed Love
becomes mutually known —
out of God in him uncovered —
with the spirit of our Lord
who in swift turning
speaks within them.

Poem XXIII

XXIII.

He bears his like
in gladness eternally —
an endless one —
where shines in worthiness
the Spirit of the adorning
of the both-Loves ever.

These are three likes
eternally,
a oneness;
and a one in three —
thus are they
one mightiness.

An empty-of-account
of his thinking,
over-passing all,
bears every thing
that ever being received
or being shall.

It has slow success,
to make this clear
out of strange speech
for those who within do not embrace
and yet stand-after
altogether.

That they into themselves constrain
what to them strange senses
bring —
they do not know
what happens to them
who live in Love.

Where Love teaches
and turns herself
in the oneness
of the thoughts within
— there matter of Love
is ever ready.

A sweet help,
the memory's letter
ever opened.
Little can shut-in them
that they from-without
may take.

For the school of Love
teaches from within
ever much more,
with new tidings
in the bare clarity,
than strange teaching.

Poem XXIV

XXIV.

Blessed
in all time
may you be,
you who quicken
and prepare
in fine Love.

All that lives therein,
and you to all give that
they may receive
who contemplate
and speculate
light and understanding.

You are light
and direction
in the countenance
of contemplation.
At that conference
no one may be

but you and she,
alone free
in oneness.
She loses at that hour
image and figure
and distinction.

When you give her
out of which she lives,
out of your wisdom,
where she more knows
than she understands
out of your fullness.

When prophets cease,
so reveal —
Love has peace
in the thought;
she flowers in strength
in this high palace.

What thought finds —
it remains end-less
in bare Love,
and un-said
after truth,
out of Reason's sense.

Poem XXV

XXV.

O holiness
of divinity,
you who are the complexion
of the thoughts
that in you live softly
and elsewhere all-in strife —

many a matter, free,
gathers itself
into pure Love,
without distinction
and one-ness
above sense.

Those who the hidden fine
exercise in the countenance —
of their thought the oneness —
they shut out from death
their wisdom great,
the eternal godhead.

He remains pained
who this touches
to find-it-out.
The question is so strong
that no clerk of all science
can untie it.

Though many remain un-wise,
yet it is good
that one have it in speech —
the question, in order
that no fool
gainsay it.

And that each acknowledge it
and no one be party
out of his folly;
for it is clear
and openly
of the bare truth.

Poem XXVI

XXVI.

I have tested you,
that I am pleased
in the privacy
of these thoughts.
That makes me soft
when she denies herself.

All un-likeness
and keep yourself quit
from all
by which middle-ness
of our oneness
might happen.

Your heart is sad,
whom nothing satisfies.
That may pass-away
when your spirit thinks
something that takes-off
your bare in-standing.

He who is
rewards himself —
in whom he finds
this likeness
which he privately
out of the one un-binds.

Those who without being
read high,
and know nothing else
than scripture
and creature,
make him themselves understand.

One cannot trust
that they watch
and call-to-account;
for they will above
believe no one
where they fail.

Foreseen from within
makes from-without unknown
and un-counted.
It is to him alone enough
who may the satisfying
of his Maker await.

The way is sad
that goes to the satisfying
of the creatures,
and so full of the molds
that those who in it hold themselves
cannot purify themselves.

High marking
in low works
is Love's torment.
High dwelling
in low showing
remains without falling.

Those who un-granted
and conquered
have Love,
which they begrudge themselves,
that they began —
they are servile of sense.

Poem XXVII

XXVII.

Before I knew
Love's tricks,
she had all my favor.
I had no guard
that she might
weary anyone.

Though she is fier,
she is also eager,
and skims-the-foam-off all,
and devours
all that she finds
without count.

But this is her habit:
she is generous too,
and pours from full.
But those who drink with her,
she makes on a sign-of-the-eye
fully pay-the-toll.

But drink fast
— though she makes her guests
thus pay —
they come gladly
into her tavern,
if she will receive them.

You make far Love
in new sense
your neighbor —
those who drink toward yours,
you make to renew
their nature.

The old man
they put off and put on
the new again.
This is your seeking,
and their meeting
who drink toward you.

One need not hook;
one shall taste —
it shall happen
without waiting,
of the thoughts
coming and fleeing.

When Love shows
that she here rewards,
she has un-likeness —
as high raised
and again struck-down,
as poor and rich.

Our knowing
must come down
in doubt;
and as in expectation
it shall stand in us
in certainty.

If it be hidden,
or if we have died,
we are mocked —
the wind of the air
blows away the fruit
that there appears.

The Power draws;
the Word arranges;
the Love leads —
thus they press
the soul, those three,
into the oneness.

There altogether
the saints are well,
and have their fullness.
That is in
the first beginning,
in the pure godhead.

And hold my words
neither for jest
nor for play.
I have spoken
right truth,
and nothing else.

Whoever would aught of this know,
let him follow Love
without turning.
Praised be
the fine godhead
evermore. Amen. Amen.

Poem XXVIII

XXVIII.

I desire what is unknown to me;
for in un-knowing without ground
I find myself caught at every hour.
I think no human sense ever understood
so that his mouth could speak of it,
where he founds the deep gulf.

I will not mingle myself with him
who serves for reward or for gain.
If anyone asks me where this is —
I tell him I know it neither more nor less;
for nothing better can show my sense
than a mill-stone floating in the swan.¹

This is a wondrous tiding
which keeps me in many a danger.
She is to many hidden, and to me open;
where I followed Love nearer,
there I remained in her
swallowed up in a simple gaze.

Whoever may understand this gazing
is bound and caught,
and in Love's prison so fast made
that he may nevermore escape her.
But of these is little so made
that they stand by Love so far.

Ay mi deus what happens to him
who neither hears nor sees
that which hunts him and from which he flees,
and which he loves and from Love dreads —
Love's hunt, had he it before, anything —
hunts him from all things upon a nothing.

Poem XXIX

XXIX.

I would gladly press nearer to Love,
could I from within well bring myself.
But they cannot sing this little song with me
who mingle themselves much with creatures.

The bare Love who spares nothing
in the pleasure over-passing
— when she from all chance becomes parted —
comes she into her single-fold nature.

In bare Love's trust
must be off-with the counsel of creatures;
for she strikes from them every form
which she into her simplicity receives.

There they become quit of all manners
and made-strange from all likeness.
The poor of spirit on earth
hold of right this life.

It is not for going far,
nor for bread, nor for receiving other good —
the poor of spirit are without doubt
received into the wide single-foldness:

which has no end nor beginning,
nor form nor manner nor reason nor sense,
nor seeming nor thinking nor marking nor knowing.
She is without a circle, wide, un-measured.

In this pleasure-wide single-foldness
dwell the poor of spirit in oneness;
there they find nothing but emptiness,
which ever answers to eternity.

This is said in short speech,
but their way is long — I know it well —
for they must suffer many an affliction
who fully test this altogether.

Poem XXX — The Pure Spark

XXX.

A noble light lights in us fine,
that wills always that we be empty to him.
The pure spark, the little ember,
the livingness of my soul
— that must always be one with God,
in whom God lights his eternal shining.²

That is hidden in us within.
Reason cannot, nor sense, conceive it,
otherwise than with bare Love.
They are over-formed who know it
above-naturally out of the spark within,
in a god-like single-fold knowing.

The chance of multi-foldness
takes from us our single-foldness,
as Saint John the Evangelist says:
the light shines in the darkness,
and the dark darkness does not grasp
in her the brightness of that light.³

Were we come to this light,
so were we empty in his seeing —
of all manner, of all account,
of all stories, of all writings —
in a bottomless un-shape
we saw that light in the light.

Be ashamed, you who have long appeared,
that to you so long chance still means;
and un-being-ed always creep henceward —
might single-foldness in herself accustom you
to be over-shone by her light:
then you would remain by images, by forms, un-touched.

You may well consider yourselves —
that you seek that light outside, in parts,
which in you is whole and wills you wholly to free.
Will you of this philosophy
be master, then you cannot admit yourself
nor count anything; but all of-yours forsake.

Ah deus, how great a nobility
is this free emptiness,
where from Love all of Love is denied,
and nothing-of-her seeks outside her own self —
when she has the eternal blessedness
shut up in her oneness.

Poem XXXI

XXXI.

I gladly let her strike off my head,
provided that she believe my need —
she who from sense robs me
with the drawing-look that she shows me.

Why do you show me that countenance
with which afterwards you slay me?
For when with me at need it goes hard,
then you drive your treachery with me.

Ah Love, your tricks are too swift;
when you show one, you mean another —
now suddenly sweet, now suddenly fell —
if you remained on one, then you did well.

Your treachery is too strong
for those who serve in your enclosure,
and all set to fulfill their attention
to do your will's work.

You make poor the wise and the prudent,
and set them in many-fold mood;
when they seem most without success,
you give them your gifts without keeping.

You are crafty and good-natured,
soft as a lamb and un-tamed —
as un-bridled wild beast
in the wilderness without manner.

Poem XXXII

XXXII.

Welcome, inner origin!
You bring noble heavenly knowing;
you feed ever with new Love;
you hold me empty in your intending —
of all chance, after the uttermost knowing.

Of the bare truth's one-ness,
which has denied all reason its doing,
hold me in the emptiness,
and join me to the single-foldness
of that eternal being's eternity.

There I am the source of all reasoning.
All who ever understood scripture
could not with reason bear witness to it
— that I, bare and un-wound,
have above reason found in me.

Amen.

THE PROJECT TRANSLATION OF THE ENTIRE MENGELDICHTEN — INNER HADEWIJCH-AUTHENTIC (POEMS I–XVII) PLUS THE HADEWIJCH II SCHOOL APPENDIX (POEMS XVIII–XXXII) — IS NOW SHIPPED AT APPROXIMATELY 22K ENGLISH WORDS ACROSS SIX SECTIONS.

Translator's footnotes (project translation)

¹ A mill-stone floating in the swan — Een molensteen ghevloten mach int zwen. The image is from the medieval adynaton (impossibility-figure)-tradition: as impossible as a mill-stone floating in a swan. The Hadewijch II writer borrows the courtly impossibility-image to figure the un-knowing-without-ground in which the apophatic soul lives.

² A noble light lights in us fine ... the pure spark, the little ember, the livingness of my soul, that must always be one with God — the canonical proto-Eckhart-Seelenfunklein passage in late-13th-c. Middle Dutch. The doctrine of the Vünkelîn der Seele / scintilla animae — the soul-spark that is one with God by nature — appears in Eckhart's German sermons (especially Predigt 2, Intravit Jesus in quoddam castellum) and his Latin treatises in the early 14th century. The Hadewijch II writer predates Eckhart by some thirty years and is almost certainly part of the Brabantine-Beguine school-tradition that fed into the Cologne sermons through Eckhart's Dominican connections in the Low Countries. Pure voncke (pure spark) and ghensterlijn (little ember) are doublets — the spark and the ember — for the same thing: the still-burning point in the soul where the divine indwells. The passage is among the most-cited single passages in all Hadewijch-school scholarship.

³ The light shines in the darkness, and the dark darkness does not grasp in her the brightness of that light — direct citation of John 1:5 (lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt). The Hadewijch II writer's choice to cite John precisely here — at the doctrinal hinge of the noble-light stanza — is decisive: the pure spark is identified with the Light of John 1, the eternal logos-light that dwells in the soul. The doctrinal lineage runs from John 1 through Augustine (Confessions VII, on the interior magister) to the Hadewijch II writer to Eckhart's intellectus agens and Vünkelîn.

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