"Do you know the story
Of Christ and the Sultan's daughter?"
Early in the mornide
The Sultans's daughter
Walked in her father's garden,
Gathering the bright flowers,
All full of dew.
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And as she gathered them,
She wondered more and more
Who was the Master of the flowers,
And made them grow
Out of the cold, dark earth
"In my heart," she said,
"I love him; and for him
Would I leave my father's palace,
To labour in his garden"
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And at midnight,
As she lay upon her bed,
She heard a voice
Call to her from the garden,
And, looking forth from her window
She saw a beautiful youth
Standing among the flowers.
It was the Lord Jesus;
And she went down to him,
And opened the door for him;
And he said to her,
"O maiden !
Thou hast thought of me with love,
And for thy sake
Out of my Father's kingdom
Have I come hither;
I am the Master of the Flowers.
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My garden is in Paradise,
And if thou wilt go with me,
Thy bridal garland
Shall be of bright red flowers."
And then he took from his finger
A golden ring,
And asked the Sultan's daughter
If she would be his bride.
And when she answered him with love,
His wounds began to bleed,
And she said to him,
“O love! how red thy heart is,
And thy hands are full of roses."
" For thy sake," answered he;
" For thy sake is my heart so red,
For thee I bring these roses ;
I gathered them at the cross
Whereon I died for thee !
Come, for my Father calls.
Thou art my elected bride!'
And the Sultan's daughter
Followed him to his Father's garden.
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- Longfellow
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"Dear friend,
- Your sweetness intimidates"
Emily Dickinson, from a letter to Sarah Tuckerman
(January 1880)
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(To be loved means to be consumed. To love
means to radiate with inexhaustible light. To be loved is to pass away, to love is to endure.)
- Rainer Maria Rilke, The Notebooks of Malte
Laurids Brigge
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"Even before you
touched me, I belonged
to you; all you had to do
was look at me."
Louise Glück