However far we be parted….,

My wife and soulmate Helen gave me this hip flask in our very early days together. She had it engraved with words of the 13th century German mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg: “However far we be parted, never can we be separated”. Mechthild’s words continue (not on the hip flask but in our hearts): ‘I am in you and you are in Me. We could not be any closer. We two are fused into one, poured into a single mould. Thus, unwearied, we shall remain forever.’