San Juan de La Cruz (Saint John of the Cross) - Poems Selection

8/9/2019 San Juan de La Cruz (Saint John of the Cross) - Poems Selection

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San Juan de la Cruz

Seven Spiritual Poems

Song of the Soul that Delights in Reaching the Supreme State

of perfection, that is, the union with God, by the path of spiritual negation

!pon a dar"ened nighton fire with all love#s longing

$ % &oyful flight' $

( left, none noticing,

my house, in silence, resting

Secure, devoid of light,

by secret stairway, stealing

$ % &oyful flight' $ in dar"ness self)concealing,

my house, in silence, resting

(n the &oy of night,

in secret so none saw me,no ob&ect in my sight

no other light to guide me,

but what burned here inside me

*hich solely was my guide,

more surely than noon)glow,to where he does abide,one whom ( deeply "now,

a place where none did show

% night, my guide'

% night, far "inder than the dawn'

% night that tied

the lover to the loved,the loved in the lover there transformed'

%n my flowering breast,that breast ( "ept for him alone,

there he too" his rest

while ( regaled my own,in lulling breezes from the cedars blown

+he breeze, from off the tower,

as ( sieved through its windings



with calm hands, that hour,

my nec", in wounding,

left all my senses hanging

Self abandoned, self forgot,

my face inclined to the beloved oneall ceased, and ( was not,

my cares now left behind, and gone

there among the lilies all forgotten

-erses on the .cstasy of Deep Contemplation

( entered where there is no "nowing,and un"nowing ( remained,

all "nowledge there transcending

(

*here no "nowing is ( entered,yet when ( my own self saw there

without "nowing where ( rested

great things ( understood there,yet cannot say what ( felt there,

since ( rested in un"nowing,


((

%f peace and of holy goodthere was perfect "nowing,

in profoundest solitude

the only true way seeing,yet so secret is the thing

that ( was left here stammering,


(((

( was left there so absorbed,so entranced, and so removed,

that my senses were abroad,

robbed of all sensation proved,and my spirit then was moved

with an un"nown "nowing,


(-



/e who reaches there in truth

from himself is parted though,and all that before he "new

seems to him but base below,

his "nowledge increases sothat "nowledge has an ending,


-

+he higher he climbs however

the less he#ll ever understand, because the cloud grows dar"er

that lit the night on every hand

whoever visits this dar" land

rests forever in un"nowing,all "nowledge there transcending

-(

+his "nowledge of un"nowingis of so profound a power

that no wise men arguing

will ever supersede its hour

their wisdom cannot reach the tower where "nowing has an ending,


-((

(t is of such true e0cellence

this highest understanding,

no science, no human sense,

has it in its grasping,yet he who, by self)con1uering

grasps "nowing in un"nowing,

goes evermore transcending

-(((

2nd in the deepest sense,

this highest "nowledge lies,

of the divine essence,

if you would be wise



his mercy so it does comprise,

each one leaving in un"nowing,


Song of the Soul in (ntimate Communication of !nion with God#s 3ove

% flame of living love,

that at its deepest centre

wounds now my soul with tenderness'Since you no more remove,

end then, if you intend to4

tear now the veil of mutual sweetness'

% cautery so sweet'

% wound#s caress'

% soothing hand' % delicate the touching,

that signals life complete, pays every debt,

changes death to life in its ending'

% fiery light,

in whose resplendenciesdeep caves of purest feeling,

that once were eyeless night,

with rarest beauties

shed warmth and light on the loving

/ow lovingly, how gently

you return now to my breastwhere you live all secret and alone

and filled with virtue#s glory

how your sweetest breathdelicately pierces to the bone'

Spiritual -erses

See"ing love always

with hope that cannot falter

( flew ever higher till ( overtoo" my prey

(

So ( might seize the prey

in this divine venture

( flew ever higher



from sight was forced to stray,

yet love so far did fly

that though in my flight( faltered in the height

( caught the prey on high

((

2s higher ( ascendedso the hardest con1uest

came about in dar"ness,

all my sight was dazzled

yet since love was my preyfrom blind dar" a leaper

( flew on ever higher

till ( overtoo" the prey

(((

(n this highest game,the further ( ascended

the humbler, more subdued

more abased ( became56one attains it#, ( did say

( san" down lower, lower,

yet ( rose higher, higher

and so ( too" the prey

(-

7y one flight in strange manner

surpassed a hundred thousand

for the hope of highest heavenattains the end it hopes for

there hope alone did fly

unfaltering in the height

hope, see"ing in its flight,( caught the prey on high

Song of the Soul that Delights in 8nowing God through 9aith

/ow well ( "now that fountain#s rushing flow

though it is night'

(

+hat fount eternal is a hidden thing



/ow well ( "now where its waters spring,

though it is night'

((

(ts source ( "now not since it has none,and yet every source from it does come,

though it is night

(((

( "now that nothing is as beautiful,

of it earth and heaven there drin" full,though it is night

(-

( "now that it is endlessly deep,

that none across those depths may leap,though it is night

-

(ts clarity will never be obscured,

( "now all light there has its source,

though it is night

-(

( "now its streams so greatly swell

it waters earth, and heaven, and hell,

though it is night-((

+he flood that flows from out this spring,

( "now is full, and con1uers everything,though it is night

-(((

+he flood that from these two proceeds

( "now that neither its deep flood e0ceeds,though it is night

(:



2nd this eternal fountain is concealed,

in the living bread our life to yield,

though it is night

:

/ere it cries aloud to every creature,

to drin" of it, though dar" its nature,

for it is night

:(

+hat living fount that ( desire,within the bread of life, ( now admire,

though it is night

2 Gloss with Spiritual 7eaning

*ith no aid, yet with every aid,without light, in dar"ness truly,

( see myself swallowed wholly

(

7y soul is now severed

from each created thing,raised on its own wing

to a life of &oy forever,

God alone succouring

((

+he thing ( most value,

from this it can be said,

is that it sees itself, my soul,

with no aid, yet with every aid

(((

+hough dar"ness ( endure

in this my mortal life

yet that is no strifethough the light#s obscure

( have celestial life

for love such e0istence,

if blinder, grants more fully,



the soul held in subservience

without light, in dar"ness truly

(-

Since (#ve "nown it, ( confess,

love has wor"ed so within mewhether all goes well or badly

all#s touched with a single sweetness,

transforming the soul inside me,and so in its &oyous flames,

those flames ( feel within me,

swiftly, so naught remains,

( see myself swallowed wholly

-erses of the Soul that Pines to See God

( live without life in mein such manner longing

that (#m dying of not dying

(

(n myself ( no longer live

without God ( can live no longer

himself, myself, having neither,

what can it mean to live;2 thousand deaths ( believe,

for my one true life longing

and so dying of not dying

((

6ot life, but deprivation,

is this life ( am living,

and so a continual dying,

till meeting is our union/ear me, my God, as one,

for this now ( have no li"ing,


(((

(f ( am absent from you

what life shall ( "now here

e0cept this death ( suffer

the bitterest "nown, it#s true;



( have pity on myself too,

since my fate is such, enduring,

that (#m dying of not dying(-

2 fish that leaps from the water its relief comes swift and sure,

by the death it must endure,

it is healed in death hereafter*hat death is e1ual to mine here;

(n this pitiful life (#m living,

the more life the longer dying

-

*hen ( see" for relief too

find you in the Sacrament,deeper sorrow to me is lent,

( cannot delight in you, pain grips me through and through,

not seeing you in my sighing,

and so dying of not dying

-(

2nd if my 3ord ( delightin hopes of seeing you

"nowing that ( may lose you

doubles my sorrow 1uiteliving in such deep fright

and, as ( hope, still hoping,

( die through my not dying-((

Raise me from this death

my God, and grant me lifenor condemn me to this strife

in bonds that stifle breath

how ( long to see your face,my wretchedness so trying,


-(((

6ow for death ( cry

and my life lament



while in imprisonment

here for my sins ( lie

% my God, when will (hear myself truly saying

now ( live beyond all dying;

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San Juan de La Cruz (Saint John of the Cross) - Poems Selection