Friday, June 04, 2021
Hadewijch of Antwerp
Hadewijch
Dear Lady, I know you well.
The solitary cup of tea,
the walk alone in the woods.
Hours kneeling
before the cross.
You shared many secrets,
but the one you never shared
was this:
your love was in your body,
you felt it in you cells,
your hands, your lovely cheek.
How young you were.
Your fiery spirit confined
in those strange costumes,
that curious head gear, those
billowing skirts.
Yet Love
found your heart,
told you how to turn,
how to pray without
words,
you were hers.
The others at times
did not approve.
How much is too far?
You listened silently and wrote
more verses.
Dead at 45,
who knows why?
yet still here.
Dorothy Walters
June 1, 2021
(Hadewijch was a Beguine who lived in whatis now Belgium. Beguinae were independent women who lived together and, though they were mostly good Catholics, exercised a certain freedom of thought and action. Some of Hadewijch's ideas challeged traditional church beliefs.)