Post written by Aneta Pavlenko. On January 15, 1605, a young Dutch woman, Brechje Spiegels, died suddenly, catching everyone by surprise. A few days earlier her beloved, poet Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft ...

In the midst of a busy life, in which a priest can barely find time to read his breviary, why on earth should he spend his time reading something as useless as poetry? Because poetry is the purest ...