O Vocative

Negations of the Areopagite
dropped all my thoughts into my heart.

When Eckhart taught of inner birth
and death I gently marked his book
and wept into my hand:

O vocative! O Christendom!
(Not like the scribes, that voice.)

When Tauler taught of inner death
and birth I lay aside his book
and wept into my hands.