{"id":2703,"date":"2023-05-30T11:17:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T15:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/a-stunning-17th-century-poem-about-how-to-live-with-the-transcendent-terror-of-love-the-marginalian\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T11:17:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T15:17:14","slug":"a-stunning-17th-century-poem-about-how-to-live-with-the-transcendent-terror-of-love-the-marginalian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/a-stunning-17th-century-poem-about-how-to-live-with-the-transcendent-terror-of-love-the-marginalian\/","title":{"rendered":"A Stunning 17th-Century Poem About How to Live with the Transcendent Terror of Love \u2013 The Marginalian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Love is both the tenderest mirror and the cruelest. How much and how well we show up for love reflects what we believe ourselves worthy of. What we desire reflects what we believe we deserve. What we long for reflects both our limitations and our restless yearning to transcend them. In love\u2019s mirror, we are revealed to ourselves, stripped of the ego\u2019s flattering self-image, our vulnerabilities and inadequacies laid bare \u2014 a revelation laced with the sublime, both beautiful and terrifying to the bone. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_76837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2022\/05\/12\/sophie-blackall-things-to-look-forward-to\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"811\" class=\"size-full wp-image-76837 jetpack-lazy-image\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?w=1161&amp;ssl=1 1161w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=320%2C382&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=600%2C716&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=240%2C286&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=768%2C916&amp;ssl=1 768w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=680%2C811&amp;is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazy-fallback=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=680%2C811&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"811\" class=\"size-full wp-image-76837\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?w=1161&amp;ssl=1 1161w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=320%2C382&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=600%2C716&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=240%2C286&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themarginalian.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sophieblackall_thingstolookforwardto_FallinginLove.jpg?resize=768%2C916&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Art by Sophie Blackall from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2022\/05\/12\/sophie-blackall-things-to-look-forward-to\/\"><em>Things to Look Forward to<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>How to live with the transcendent terror of love is what the seventeenth-century metaphysical poet, priest, and musician <strong>George Herbert<\/strong> (April 3, 1593\u2013March 1, 1633) explores in one of his poems \u2014 poems composed in the hope that they might \u201cturn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul.\u201d Reaching across space and time the way only art can, the poem\u2019s final line went on to inspire the final line of Derek Walcott\u2019s superb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2015\/04\/21\/love-after-love-derek-walcott\/\">\u201cLove After Love,\u201d<\/a> composed nearly four centuries later.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Love&quot; by George Herbert (read by Maria Popova) by brainpicker\" width=\"680\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1514742679&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;maxheight=1000&amp;maxwidth=680\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>LOVE<\/strong><br \/><em>by George Herbert<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Guilty of dust and sin.<br \/>But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From my first entrance in,<br \/>Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If I lack\u2019d anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA guest,\u201d I answer\u2019d, \u201cworthy to be here:\u201d<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Love said, \u201cYou shall be he.\u201d<br \/>\u201cI, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I cannot look on Thee.\u201d<br \/>Love took my hand and smiling did reply,<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWho made the eyes but I?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruth, Lord; but I have marr\u2019d them: let my shame<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Go where it doth deserve.\u201d<br \/>\u201cAnd know you not,\u201d says Love, \u201cWho bore the blame?\u201d<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy dear, then I will serve.\u201d<br \/>\u201cYou must sit down,\u201d says Love, \u201cand taste my meat.\u201d<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So I did sit and eat.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Complement with David Whyte\u2019s poem <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2021\/07\/26\/david-whyte-the-truelove\/\">\u201cThe Truelove\u201d<\/a> and Robert Graves\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2012\/09\/06\/advice-to-lovers-robert-graves-1919\/\">\u201cAdvice to Lovers,\u201d<\/a> then revisit the great Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2015\/03\/31\/how-to-love-thich-nhat-hanh\/\">how to love<\/a> and Hannah Arendt on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2019\/02\/25\/love-and-saint-augustine-hannah-arendt\/\">how to live with the fundamental fear of love\u2019s loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Love is both the tenderest mirror and the cruelest. How much and how well we show up for love reflects what we believe ourselves worthy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}