Dark Night of the Soul

The Dark Night Of The Soul as translated by David Lewis (1909) - Original Spanish with English translation - Full English text in various formats

• On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings — oh, happy chance! —
  I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
  In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised — oh, happy chance! —
  In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.
  • One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace! —
    I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.
    In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.
    • Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
  • Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast
    And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest.
    Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled.
    The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead
    • Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)

• In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
  Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.

• Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
  Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!
  • O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn!
    O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover.
    • Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
  • Oh night thou was my guide
    Oh night more loving than the rising sun
    Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one
    transforming each of them into the other.
    • Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)

• I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved.
  All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.
  • I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved; all things ceased; I went out from myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.
  • Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)

Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

The Spiritual Canticle as translated by E. Allison Peers - A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ as translated by David Lewis

• In search of my Love
  I will go over mountains and strands;
  I will gather no flowers,
  I will fear no wild beasts;
  And pass by the mighty and the frontiers. ~ 3

• A thousand graces diffusing
  He passed through the groves in haste,
  And merely regarding them
  As He passed
  Clothed them with His beauty. ~ 5

• Reveal Thy presence,
  And let the vision and Thy beauty kill me,
  Behold the malady
  Of love is incurable
  Except in Thy presence and before Thy face. ~ 11

• O crystal well!
  Oh that on Thy silvered surface
  Thou wouldest mirror forth at once
  Those eyes desired
  Which are outlined in my heart! ~ 12

• My Beloved is the mountains,
  The solitary wooded valleys,
  The strange islands,
  The roaring torrents,
  The whisper of the amorous gales;
  The tranquil night
  At the approaches of the dawn,
  The silent music,
  The murmuring solitude,
  The supper which revives, and enkindles love. ~ 14 & 15

• O killing north wind, cease!
  Come, south wind, that awakenest love!
  Blow through my garden,
  And let its odours flow,
  And the Beloved shall feed among the flowers. ~ 17

• The bride has entered
  The pleasant and desirable garden,
  And there reposes to her heart’s content;
  Her neck reclining
  On the sweet arms of the Beloved. ~ 22

• There He taught me the science full of sweetness.
  And there I gave to Him
  Myself without reserve;
  There I promised to be His bride. ~ 27

• My soul is occupied,
  And all my substance in His service;
  Now I guard no flock,
  Nor have I any other employment:
  My sole occupation is love. ~ 28

• If, then, on the common land
  I am no longer seen or found,
  You will say that I am lost;
  That, being enamoured,
  I lost myself; and yet was found. ~ 29

• When Thou didst regard me,
  Thine eyes imprinted in me Thy grace:
  For this didst Thou love me again,
  And thereby mine eyes did merit
  To adore what in Thee they saw. ~ 32

• Despise me not,
  For if I was swarthy once
  Thou canst regard me now;
  Since Thou hast regarded me,
  Grace and beauty hast Thou given me. ~ 33

• The little white dove
  Has returned to the ark with the bough;
  And now the turtle-dove
  Its desired mate
  On the green banks has found. ~ 34

• In solitude she lived,
  And in solitude built her nest;
  And in solitude, alone
  Hath the Beloved guided her,
  In solitude also wounded with love. ~ 35

• Let us rejoice, O my Beloved!
  Let us go forth to see ourselves in Thy beauty,
  To the mountain and the hill,
  Where the pure water flows:
  Let us enter into the heart of the thicket. ~ 36

• We shall go at once
  To the deep caverns of the rock
  Which are all secret,
  There we shall enter in
  And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate. ~ 37

• There thou wilt show me
  That which my soul desired;
  And there Thou wilt give at once,
  O Thou, my life!
  That which Thou gavest me the other day. ~ 38

• The breathing of the air,
  The song of the sweet nightingale,
  The grove and its beauty
  In the serene night,
  With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains. ~ 39

The Sayings of Light and Love

As translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)

• Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for. For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?

• One human thought alone is worth more than the entire world, hence God alone is worthy of it.

• The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.

• If you wish to attain holy recollection, you will do so not by receiving but by denying.

• Souls will be unable to reach perfection who do not strive to be content with having nothing, in such fashion that their natural and spiritual desire is satisfied with emptiness; for this is necessary in order to reach the highest tranquility and peace of spirit. Hence the love of God in the pure and simple soul is almost continually in act.

• Although you perform many works, if you do not deny your will and submit yourself, losing all solicitude about yourself and your affairs, you will not make progress.

• If you desire to discover peace and consolation for your soul and to serve God truly, do not find your satisfaction in what you have left behind, because in that which now concerns you you may be as impeded as you were before, or even more. But leave as well all these other things and attend to one thing alone that brings all these with it (namely, holy solitude, together with prayer and spiritual and divine reading), and persevere there in forgetfulness of all things.

• Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

• Not all the faculties and senses have to be employed in things, but only those that are required; as for the others, leave them unoccupied for God.

• The soul that desires God to surrender himself to it entirely must surrender itself entirely to him without keeping anything for itself.

• Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it; reflect that all must come to an end.

• Whoever flees prayer flees all that is good.

• Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

Quotes about John of the Cross

• It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that the verse and prose works combined of St. John of the Cross form at once the most grandiose and the most melodious spiritual canticle to which any one man has ever given utterance.
  • E. Allison Peers
• May, 1993 - Stratford... have been reading through the poetry of 15th century Spain, and I find myself drawn to one by the mystic writer and visionary St. John of the Cross; the untitled work is an exquisite, richly metaphoric love poem between himself and his god. It could pass as a love poem between any two at any time ... His approach seems more akin to early Islamic or Judaic works in its more direct route to communication to his god... I have gone over three different translations of the poem, and am struck by how much a translation can alter our interpretation. Am reminded that most holy scriptures come to us in translation, resulting in a diversity of views.
  • Loreena McKennitt, notes from her journals in the CD booklet for The Mask and Mirror (1994)