POEM #3 Teresa de Avila 1515-1582


Sorry, dear reader! I hate to disappoint you, but some of the best stuff isn't in English. So there's a translation I threw together on the bottom of this one. I "met" Teresa de Avila in college. A part of the Christian mystic genre (mystic=one who believed a knowledge/relationship of God could be attained in this life; um... I guess that makes me and a large part of my readers mystics- who knew? ;o), Avila was a special inspiration to me in a public university full of relativism and skewed philosophies. I felt a kinship with her, like a secret friend I carried in my textbook.

Nada te turbe;
nada te espante;
todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda,
la paciencia
todo lo alcanza.
Quien a Dios tiene,
nada le falta.
Solo Dios basta.

May nothing disturb you.
May nothing frighten you.
Everything passes away.
God does not change.
Patience
can attain anything.
He who has God,
lacks nothing.
God is enough.