Angelus Silesius - The Cherubic Wanderer (Selections)

21 
One knows not what one is
I know not what I am; I am not what I know
A thing and not a thing: both a point and a circle

22
You must become what God is
Should I find my final end and first beginning
I must discover myself in God and God in me.
And in order to become what He is, I must become a shine in a shine,
A word in a word, a god in god.

God does not live without me
I know that without me God cannot live a moment
If I become nothing, he must become nothing and die, too!

27
God is that which he wills
God is the wonder-thing! : He is what he wills
And he wills whatever he is without any measure or end.

34
The dead will reigns
So far as my will is dead, God must do as I will:
I, myself, proscribe for him the pattern and goal.

35
The Spiritual Alchemy
Then blue becomes gold, and chance ceases to be, 
When I am transmuted with God through God in God.

The Rose
The Rose, which your outer eye sees here,
has bloomed from eternity in God.

48
The more surrendered, the more godly
The saints are so drunk on God's divinity;
They are so lost, sinking deep in her.

54
The Triunity in Nature
God's triunity is shown you in every plant;
There, sulfur, salt, and mercury can all be seen as one.

58
Without Why
The Rose is without why, it blooms because it blooms,
It does not consider itself, and does not ask if man sees it.

64
Extoll yourself above yourself
The man who does not extoll his spirit over himself-
He is not worthy to be called a human being.

From the midpoint one sees all
The one who elects to make a home for himself in the midpoint
Sees in a glance what is in the imperceptible.

65
Men, become essential : for when the world dissipates
the accidental falls away, but the essence does not.

69
The spiritual sea voyage
The world is my ocean; God's Spirit is the captain
The ship is my body; the soul, that which travels home.

71
You are your own prison
The world does not cling to you: you are the world.
The origin of its strong hold on you is within you.

72
The Secret of Self-Abandonment [Gelassenheit]
Self-abandonment drives God: God loses himself.
It is a self-abandonment that few men grasp.

81
The Spirit is like being
My Spirit is like Being: My Spirit seeks Being out;
in it she finds her origin and from it she emanates.

86
God plays with the creation
All this is a game that you, the Godhead, play:
It has conceived the creature for its own will.

93
Five gradations are in God
Five stages are found in God: Slave, Friend, Son, Bride, and Spouse
Whoever goes beyond them dissolves, and knows number no longer.

“Follow me” Christ our Hero says
“Follow me, all you Christians
Deny yourselves, forsake the world
Heed my cry and call
Take up your cross and be unmade
You, yourselves, follow my change!

I am the Light, I enlighten you
With holy, virtue-life
The one who comes and follows me
Ought not in darkness linger
I am the way, I know well
How one should walk truthfully

My heart is full of humility
My soul is full of love
Gentle Oils constantly flow
From my mouth
My Spirit, disposition, power, and mind 
Reveal God, and look up to him

Does it feel too difficult for you? I go before you.
I stand beside you.
I suffer, myself; I lead the way
I am everything in suffering
A wicked farmhand, can he stand still
When he sees the Field Master coming?

The one who intends to find his soul
Without me will lose it
He who by me appears to lose,
Will be led home
He who does not take up his cross and follow me
Is not worthy or an extension of me.”

So then, let us go after the Love Lord
With our own crosses
And stand in cheerfulness, confidence, and good desire
In all suffering
For he who does not struggle, also does not wear the crown
Of eternal life.

1 "Come, follow me," the Savior spake,
"all in my way abiding;
deny yourselves, the world forsake,
obey my call and guiding.
O bear the cross, whate'er betide,
take my example for your guide.

2 "I am the light, I light the way,
a godly life displaying;
I bid you walk as in the day,
I keep your feet from straying.
I am the way, and well I show
how you must sojourn here below.

3 "I teach you how to shun and flee
what harms your soul's salvation,
your heart from ev'ry guile to free,
from sin and its temptation.
I am the refuge of the soul
and lead you to your heav'nly goal."

4 Then let us follow Christ our Lord
and take the cross appointed
and, firmly clinging to his Word,
in suff'ring be undaunted.
For those who bear the battle's strain
the crown of heav'nly life obtain.

“She desires to be wounded by her beloved.”

Jesus, you mighty Love-God,
Come near to me:
For I languish here in the death
brought about by Love-sickness.
Move your weapon, and quickly
pierce my heart with your arrow;
Wound me.

Oh come, my Sun, my Life’s-Light,
My dwelling place.
Come and warm me, so that I might not
stay forever cold.
Cast your flame into the shrine
of my half-frozen heart;
Set me ablaze.

O, all-sweet Soulmate,
glow through me completely
And remake me according to the grace and favor
of your glance.
Blow on the fire without delay
That my heart, in a quick torrent,
might become pure for you.

Then I will say that you have 
released me from death
And like a lovely Soul-Guest
have you visited me in my poverty.
Then I will boast that you are
my Bridegroom, who loves and kisses me
and never forsakes me.