Undusted Texts

"Poem #26, For the Profession of Isabel de Los Ángeles"

By St. Teresa de Ávila (1515-1582)

Be my joy in lament in great fear my repose, my solace in sorrows, and my wealth from wealth rent. Amid tempests, my love, my gift, wounded in strife, in my death be my life, despised, favor above. In poverty, treasures, in combat, my triumph, in labor, my quiet, in sadness, rest secure. Be my light in light’s loss, my greatness in place low, my shortcut on the road, be my glory the Cross. My honor’s abasement, and suffering my palm, my growth, when wants embalm, and my gain, effacement. My fullness in hunger, and my hope in my fear, my joys when terror’s near, my delights when bitter. In forget, memory, height in humiliation, when low, my opinion, in affront, victory. Despised, be my laurel, in pains, my affection, my worth in dejection, alone, my wreath floral. My confidence in Christ, and my love’s just for Him in exhaustion, my vim, and my home in His like. Here’s founded my firmness here my security, test of my verity, the sign of my fineness.


Source: The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, Volume Three (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1985), 402-404.
This is my own translation based on the Spanish provided, not a copy of Kavanaugh and Rodriguez' translation.


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