The greatest love poem of all time
What is the greatest poem about love? What is the most treasured one throughout the centuries?
You’ll be surprised to know that this poem was not written in a romantic setting. Actually, its original hearers were a bunch of people who could not even look each other in the eye!
Before I share my translation of this ancient poem with you, let’s look at why its author penned it down.
A divided community lacking love
Nearly 2000 years ago a group of people split and divided themselves over all kinds of issues. Some liked this leader, others liked the other. Some said that doing this would make you a better person, others again said something else.
In summary, division, strive and selfishness marked this group of people.
Actually, these people were meant to huddle around the same cause. They were meant to have each other’s backs.
Instead, they preferred their own ways. They let petty differences and arguments distract them from their mission, from their calling. They let it get in the way and as such they were missing their purpose.
Call back to the central cause: Love
It is to these people that a man wrote a letter. He pulled them up over their petty differences. So-called knowledge and wisdom meant nothing, he said, as long as they keep losing sight of what, and who, is really important.
If they could not get their act together and start looking after one another, they were nothing more than a bunch of quarreling kids. Foolish ones, that is.
In the middle of discussing some of the important actions of the this community, he wrote a special poem. He placed this poem right there to stop, pause, and place a mirror in front of their noses.
This is what it is all truly about. Really, this is what should matter to you. This is what you should pursue.
If you do not do this, all this you think is important, actually means nothing!
And what is it all about? Love.
Not just any kind of love. No, it is not about things you like, prefer, want or love. It is about sacrificial love. Giving up of yourself for the sake of the other, that is what it is about.
It is about seeking to restore relationships. To lift others up so that they can be healed and comforted and grow.
To be precise, it is the same type of love of Jesus. He showed, lived and taught this love.
Just a quick note
This text has been translated many times, but scholars prefer to view it as a rhetorical piece in Greek. Yes, its intent was rhetorical, but the author was from the Ancient Near East.
Looking at poetry from a Greek perspective, this poem does not really look like poetry. However, when you look at it from a Semitic point of view, it is a classical example of high-quality poetic writing!
Here I present my translation where I tried to retain as much of the poetic effects. I tried to keep the poetic devices and flow, so that we as modern readers and hearers can experience the same poetic flow as the ones nearly 2000 years ago.
Most translations try to interpret the sayings, but interpretation of poetry is the audience’s task. Yes, some sayings sound a bit weird to us, but that should only encourage you to dive in and search for yourself what it could mean.
Here you have my translation from this love poem retaining the poetic devices instead of plainly interpreting them. The original language was Greek. The poem’s original author was Paul the Apostle.
The Greatest – is Love
If in the tongues of men I speak, and of angels But love I have not I am an echoing brass And a whaling cymbal And if I have prophecy And I understand every mystery And all knowledge And if I have all faith So I can move mountains But love I have not Nothing I am And if I donate all my belongings And if I surrender my body To all kinds of hardship But love I have not Nothing I gain Love is patient Kindness does love No striving does love No boasting, no puffing up No dishonoring, no seeking only herself No becoming angered, no keeping offense No rejoicing in what is wrong But rejoices in faithful truth All things she endures All things she believes All things she hopes All things she perseveres Love never fails Whether a prophecy It will pass away Whether a tongue It will stop –– Whether what’s known It will pass away For partially we know And partially we prophesy But when the perfect one comes That which is partial It will pass away When I was a child I spoke like a child I reasoned like a child I observed like a child When I became a man I did away with this childishness For now we see Through a mirror in obscurity But then from countenance to countenance Now I know partially But then I will fully know Just as I am fully known Now then remain Faith, hope, love These three things But the greatest –– is love Paul of Tarshish (mid-1st century A.D.) in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Translated by Jozua van Otterloo, ©2022
