Holy Longing
Holy Longing - meaning Summary
Yearning for Transformative Death
The poem describes a spiritual longing that seeks purification through self-sacrifice. Addressed quietly to the wise, it contrasts worldly scorn with an inward appetite for a consuming, transformative love. Imagery of lovers’ night, candles, and a moth flying into flame suggests a voluntary approach toward death as necessary passage to a higher state. The closing imperative, "Die, and be transformed," frames death as metamorphosis rather than annihilation.
Read Complete AnalysesTell no one but the wise ones, For the mob will now certain mock: I do praise the living essence That longs for death in flame. In the cool of lovers’ night That begat you as you begat, Strange presentment overcomes you As the quiet candle burns. No more do you stay entrapped In the shadows of the dark, And you’re ripped with longing For a higher form of love. No distance makes you give up, You come flying and in trance, And then thirsting for the light, Moth, you are burned. And till you have not that, Then this: Die, and be transformed! You shall be but a sorry guest On the darkling earth.
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