O lovely rose on the thorn,
    Thou are sweet as the grape,
    A flower of great delight;
    Yet the root of your constancy
    Is in the Holy Spirit
    ever fresh and ever green.

Come, dear friend,
    I await you
    and my heart
    goes out to meet you.
I, though God,
    lose myself
        in you.

From the overflowing love of God
    there flows evermore
        into the soul
    a sweet,
        longing,
            hungry,
                love.

–Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210-1280)