Channeling Madeleva

Today I post a couple of poems by a timeless, ageless companion of mine - at least I would like to believe she is with me, part of me somehow.

Sister Mary Evaline Wolff, Madeleva -  President of St. Mary of the Wasatch (college for girls in my hometown of Salt Lake City), 1926-1933

http://lostwomynsspace.blogspot.com/2011/11/college-of-saint-mary-of-wasatch.html

The Swimmer

Afraid? Of you, strong proxy lover, you, God’s sea?
I give you my small self ecstatically,
To be caught, held, or buffeted; to rest
Heart to your heart, and breast to breathing breast;
The stinging madness of one infinite kiss;
Daring your most exquisite, sweet alarms
In the safe compass of the everlasting arms.


And So I Am Betrayed

You spoke of loneliness before I went;
You knew that I would be too proud to show it,
In which security I was content.
You did not say the mocking-bird would know it.
Longing you mentioned in a casual way;
You thought the sea and mountain-trails might bring it;
Knowing, you were too merciful to say
The mocking-bird, the mocking-bird would sing it.
Hunger and thirst and loneliness have come;
This wild, this poignant singing has unmade me;
It is not pride but longing holds me dumb.

The mocking-bird, belovèd, has betrayed me.

*Poems excerpted from The Four
Last Things: Collected Poems By
Sister M. Madeleva, CSC (Saint
Mary’s College, Notre Dame,
Indiana, 1986 edition). The only
poems not excerpted here are
“The King’s Secret” (p. 53) and
“To One Procrustes” (p. 49), due
to their length. You can read all
the poems in their entirety at
alumnae.saintmarys.edu. Click on

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