Love is Little

The words “little” and “low” appear frequently in Shaker songs to invoke the tenets of simplicity and humility so central to Shaker life. There is perhaps no better expression of Shakerism than this simple song from South Union, Kentucky.

A stanza from the early Shaker hymn “My Feelings” can help to illuminate the paradoxical phrase “love is little”:

I want to feel little, more simple, more mild,
More like our blest parents, and more like a child,
More thankful, more humble, more lowly in mind,
More watchful, more prayerful, more loving and kind.

Love is little, love is low,
love will make my spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
love will do the thing that’s right.