Amor Vincit Timorem – Ilse Kramer

Amor Vincit Timorem

By Ilse Kramer
(Inspired by Gail Glanville)

I am inside an icy block of fear
Which all my poor
And feeble love
Can never melt

If I were wise and had
The key to every mystery
But had no love
I would forever be afraid

Judas the Traitor with his bag of coins
Was born and died devoid of love
And in the end he was afraid of life
And knew he could not be redeemed

God you are Love
But I am without hope for mercy —
And suddenly there is a fearless hand in mine
My helpless love turns into Love Divine


Ilse Kramer

Ilse Kramer

Ilse wrote her first verse, a sentimental jingle, in Germany in first grade. She eventually progressed to sonnets, hexameter, haiku, and acrostics. Her first English poem, “Interpretation,” 1963, won second prize in a poetry exhibition. Some of her poetry has been published in a literary magazine, the Providence Journal, Central News, and in anthologies.

Ilse has also published a bibliography of early German Americana at Brown University, and a novel, Pimpinella.

Posted in Poems about Love, Poet Laureate.