Evolution of Love 2

BLESSED IS THE MATCH

(A poem by Hannah Senesh, one of the great heroes of the 20th century):

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

Hannah Senesh wrote this poem on a small piece of paper and handed it to another parachutist just before she was captured, tortured and executed in 1944. Hannah had volunteered at the age of 23 to parachute with a small group into Yugoslavia in 1944 to save Hungarian Jews who were about to be deported to the death camp in Auschwitz. She had been born in Budapest Hungary in 1921, immigrated to Palestine in 1940 and volunteered for this dangerous mission, though she was a very happy student of agriculture. I read her biography many years ago and memorized the above poem. I never forgot it. When I read it, I knew she was truly a being of Light, that she knew something I needed to learn. I had no idea what that was. It took Sri Anandamayi Ma and Her patience to teach me what the heart is. But this beautiful, metaphysical poem of Hannah's first opened the ears of my heart those many years ago.