Women in praise of the sacred: 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women

Enheduanna (ca. 2300 B.C.E.). from The Hymn to Inanna Shu-Sin's Ritual Bride (ca. 2000 B.C.E.). Bridegroom, beloved of my heart Makeda, Queen of Sheba (ca. 1000 B.C.E.). Wisdom is. I fell Sappho (7th c. B.C.E.). Leave Crete. Evening Star who gathers everything Sumangalamata (6th c. B.C.E.). At last free Patacara (6th c. B.C.E.). When they plow their fields Zi Ye (6th-3rd c. B.C.E.). All night I could not sleep Song of Songs: The Shulammite (ca. 3rd c. B.C.E.). I am dark, daughters of Jerusalem (Song 1:5-6). At night on my bed I longed for (Song 3:1-5). I was asleep but my heart stayed awake (Song 5:2-6). Come, my beloved (Song 7:12-14) Pan Zhao (48-117?). Needle and Thread Gnostic Gospel: Nag Hammadi Library (2nd-4th c.). from The Thunder: Perfect Mind A Roman Spell (2nd-4th c.?). I bind you by oath Sabina Lampadius (fl. ca. 377). As a symbol Antal (8th c.). O sister of wealth. O you who guard over. We rose before dawn Rabi'a (717-801). I am fully qualified to work as a doorkeeper ... O my Lord, /if I worship you. O my Lord, /the stars glitter Yeshe Tsogyel (757?-817?). Listen, /O brothers and sisters Lakshminkara (8th c.). Lay your head on a block of butter and chop Three Tantric Buddhist Women's Songs (8th-11th c.). KYE HO! Wonderful!/Lotus pollen wakes up... Who speaks the sound of an echo? KYE HO! Wonderful!/You may say "existence"... Kassiane (804?-?). Troparion Yu Xuanji (843?-868). At Home in the Summer Mountains Izumi Shikibu (974?-1034?). I cannot say. Watching the moon. Although I try. Although the wind. The way I must enter Ly Ngoc Kieu (1041-1113). Birth, old age Li Qingzhao (1084-1151?). Written to the Tune "The Fisherman's Honor" Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Antiphon for Divine Wisdom. Antiphon for the Holy Spirit. Antiphon for the Angels. Song to the Creator. Alleluia-verse for the Virgin Kojiju (1121?-1201?). On the Spirit of the Heart as Moon-Disk Sun Bu-er (1124-?). Cut brambles long enough. Late Indian summer's Zhou Xuanjing (12th c.). Meditating at midnight Cui Shaoxuan (dates unknown). Black hair and red cheeks: for how long? Mahadeviyakka (12th c.). (On Her Decision to Stop Wearing Clothes). So long as this breath fills your nostrils. When I am hungry. A vein of sapphires. It was like a stream. When the body becomes Your mirror. I do not call it his sign Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207?-1282? or 1297?). I cannot dance, O Lord. A fish cannot drown in water. God speaks to the soul. How the soul speaks to God. How God answers the soul. The desert has many teachings. How God comes to the soul. Effortlessly. God's absence. True love in every moment praises God. Of all that God has shown me Marguerite Porete (?-1310). Beloved, what do you want of me? Hadewijch of Antwerp (13th c.). Love's maturity. Knowing Love in herself. Love's constancy. The madness of love. Love has subjugated me Hadewijch II (13th c.). All things/are too small. If I desire something, I know it not. Tighten/to nothing. You who want/knowledge The French Beguine (late 13th c.). from The Soul Speaks Jusammi Chikako (fl. ca. 1300). On this summer night Janabai (1298?-1350?). Cast off all shame Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). from Prayer 20

Lal Ded (14th c.?). I drag a boat over the ocean. I was passionate. The soul, like the moon. This world, /compared to You -. Coursing in emptiness. To learn the scriptures is easy. I searched for my Self. On the way to God the difficulties. At the end of a crazy-moon night

Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547). As a starved little bird, who sees and hears. I see in my mind, surrounding God

Mirabai (1498-1565?). O friends, I am mad. Love has stained my body. All I Was Doing Was Breathing. The wild woman of the forests. O friends on this Path. The song of the flute, O sister, is madness. O friend, understand: the body. Why Mira Can't Go Back to Her Old House. I was going to the river for water. The Heat of Midnight Tears. It's True I Went to the Market

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). (Lines written on a bookmark found in her Breviary)

Maria de' Medici, Queen of France (1573-1642). (To the Virgin)

Two Nahuatl Invocations (early 1600s). (Invocation for storing corn). (A midwife's invocation)

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672). from The Vanity of All Worldly Things

Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633-1694). On the Ineffable Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. On the Fruit-Providing Autumn Season. from On the Sweet Comfort Brought by Grace

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648?-1695). Because my Lord was born to suffer. Since Love is shivering

Chiyo-ni (1703-1775). The morning glory! Grazing/ my fishing line. From the mind/of a single, long vine

Ann Griffiths (1776-1805). His left hand, in heat of noonday

Emily Bronte (1818-1848). No coward soul is mine

Bibi Hayati (?-1853). Is this darkness the night of Power... Before there was a trace of this world of men

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Who has not found the Heaven

below

. I never saw a Moor

. Death is a dialogue between. The Props assist the House. Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat? I'm ceded

I've stopped being Theirs

. 'Tis little I

could care for Pearls

. I had been hungry, all the Years

. Mine

by the Right of the White Election! Wild Nights

Wild Nights! The Infinite a sudden Guest. Let me not thirst with this Hock at my Lip

A Georgia Sea Island Shout Song (19th c.). Down to the Mire

Penny Jessye's Deathbed Spiritual (19th c.). Good Lord in That Heaven

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894). After Communion. from Behold a Shaking. Amen. from Later Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets

Uvavnuk (19th c.). The great sea

Two Kwakiutl Women's Prayers (ca. 1895). Prayer of a Woman in Charge of Berry Picking... Prayer to the Sockeye Salmon

Owl Woman (mid-19th-early 20th c.). How shall I begin my song. Brown owls come here in the blue evening. Black Butte is far. The morning star is up

An Osage Woman's Initiation Song (early 20th c.). Planting Initiation Song

A Traditional Navajo Prayer (early 20th c.). Dark young pine, at the center of the earth originating

H.D. (1886-1961). White World. from The Walls Do Not Fall [25]. from The Walls Do Not Fall [36]. from Sagesse [10]

Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966). Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold. A land not mine, still. Summer Garden

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957). from Prayer. The Rose. Those Who Do Not Dance. Song

Nelly Sachs (1891-1970). How long have we forgotten how to listen! Your eyes, O my beloved. Someone. Rushing at times like flames. In the evening your vision widens. But perhaps God needs the longing

Edith Sodergran (1892-1923). On Foot I Had to Walk Through the Solar Systems. "There is no one..." Forest Lake. Question. Homecoming

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941). I know the truth. I bless the daily labor. If the soul was born with pinions. God (3). The gold that was my hair has turned

Kadya Molodowsky (1894-1975). Prayers: I

Sub-ok (1902-1966). Spring at Yesan Station.