! ! Translating Love

Oh, how to report to truth the many shades of love? Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, monk of a silent order writing what he could not speak, writes of love for brother monks without embarrassment; expatiates upon the Song of Songs, erotic metaphor, with passionate, pure heart; finds so many Latin terms for all the shades of love, of which we can translate to English speech but a modest few – love, delight, affection, charity, true friendliness; the glowing heart… Then, pen laid down, the saint returns to narrow cell – and love: in silence, stillness, solitude, pursues translation's lifelong art, but now beyond all words; holy love into the human heart. Oh, how to report to truth the many shades of love..