No one, our Lord, knows what to call Your Mother. If one calls her Virgin, her Child stands there; yet no man knew her as a married woman. If Your Mother cannot be comprehended, who can be sufficient for You?
Refrain: Praise to You, before whom all is small, for You are Lord of all.
For she alone is Your Mother, and with all she is Your Sister. She became Your Mother; she became Your Sister; she is also Your Betrothed among the chaste. With every honor You adorned her, O Beauty of Your Mother.
For she had been betrothed according to nature before You came; but after You came she conceived not according to nature, O Holy One, and she remained a Virgin when she bore You in holiness.
In You Mary received the states of all women: within her was pregnancy without union, and in her breasts was milk without the customary cause. The thirsty land You suddenly made into a fountain of milk.
If she carried You, Your great mountain made its weight light. If she fed You, it was because You hungered; if she gave You drink, because You willingly thirsted. If she embraced You, the Coal of mercies kept her bosom safe.
Your Mother is a wonder: the Lord entered her and became a servant; the Word entered her and became silent within her; Thunder entered her and was still; the Shepherd of all entered her, became a Lamb within her, and came forth bleating.
The womb of Your Mother overturned the orders of things, O Orderer of all. The Rich One entered and came forth poor; the High One entered and came forth lowly; Splendor entered, clothed Himself, and came forth in a despised appearance.
The Mighty One entered and clothed Himself in fear within the womb. The One who feeds all entered and acquired hunger; the One who gives all to drink acquired thirst. Naked and bare He came forth from her—the One who clothes all.