Wind Will Blow It All Away

One of my all-time favorite religious poems, translated by Robert Bly in his book The Sibling Society:


If someone insults you,
Go on, with light heart;
If they all do it, pay
No heed to what they say.
There's no new art
In talk of that kind.
Wind will blow it all away.

If someone praises Devotion
Implying of course it's OK,
But says of course the works
Of the Law are much greater,
It's weird dogma,
Pass by, don't bother.
Wind will blow it all away.

And if they next, to make
You less open to God,
Say (to flatter you)
That you are truly great:
Turn your back
To talk of that sort.
Wind will blow it all away.

And if the world itself
Should come, money, castles,
Great sweets in its hand, just say,
"I have enough today."
For worldly things
Return whence they came.
Wind will blow it all away.

And if people name a place
(Not God's) where all sorrow
Will be settled, all be saved,
They have an evil aim.
Be strong, say no
To these odd people.
Wind will blow it all away.

-Margaret of Navarre (trans. by Robert Bly.)