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Poetry of St John of the Cross - Saint John of the Cross · Boy Scouts Handbook

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  Speaker 1: Section one of Poetry of Saint John of the Cross.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by Ed Humple, Poetry of
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  Speaker 1: Saint John of the Cross by Saint John of the Cross,
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  Speaker 1: translated by David Lewis. Section one. The dark night. I
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  Speaker 1: departed in the darkness, with the pains of love oppressed,
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  Speaker 1: happy lot, for none observed me. All my house was
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  Speaker 1: then at rest by the latter that is secret in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness. On I pressed through the night, disguised in safety.
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  Speaker 1: All my house was then at rest, unobserved and unobserving
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  Speaker 1: in the silent bl night, And in my heart the
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  Speaker 1: fire burning was my only guide and light to the
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  Speaker 1: place where he was waiting, safely guided on the way
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  Speaker 1: on I went. The light was brighter than the sunshine
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  Speaker 1: of mid day. Night that led to my beloved guide
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  Speaker 1: in light upon the way, and made us one night
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  Speaker 1: more lovely than the dawn of coming day. On my breast,
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  Speaker 1: with flowers covered which for him alone I kept, I
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  Speaker 1: caressed him, and the cedars waving fanned him while he
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  Speaker 1: slept when his tresses were disordered by the motion of
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  Speaker 1: the air. Then I fainted, and he struck me with
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  Speaker 1: his hand, so soft and fair self forgetting there. I
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  Speaker 1: rested on my love, reclined my head, all anxieties discarded
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  Speaker 1: mid the lilies round me spread. End of section one,
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  Speaker 1: Section two of poetry of Saint John of the Cross.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section two,
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  Speaker 1: The Song of the Soul and its Bridegroom, O, my Love,
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  Speaker 1: where art thou hiding? Why hast thou forsaken me? Thou
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  Speaker 1: hast left me to my sorrow, to bewail my loss
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  Speaker 1: of thee. Thou hast wounded me, And swiftly as the
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  Speaker 1: heart hast fled away, I pursued thee, crying loudly thou
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  Speaker 1: wert gone, and wouldst not stay. O, ye shepherds, I
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  Speaker 1: entreat you, as you wend your watch way to the
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  Speaker 1: hill amid the sheep cots every night and every day,
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  Speaker 1: Tell my love, if you shall see him of the
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  Speaker 1: state in which I lie, of my longing, and in longing,
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  Speaker 1: that I languish pine and die in my quest of him.
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  Speaker 1: No mountains nor wide plains shall me delay. I will
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  Speaker 1: never stoop to gather even a flower on the way.
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  Speaker 1: I will cross the frontiers boldly. Nor shall giants hold
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  Speaker 1: me back. And if savage beasts surround me, I shall
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  Speaker 1: dread not their attack. O, Ye trees of trackless forest,
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  Speaker 1: and ye thickets of the land, shade and shelter for
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  Speaker 1: the weary, planted by his loving hand. O, ye meadows,
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  Speaker 1: fresh and verdant, pictures of the land above, decked with flowers,
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  Speaker 1: bright and fragmant, Tell me have you seen my love?
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  Speaker 1: The creatures answer, we have seen him. We have seen him. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: the beauty of his face, moving through the groves and
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  Speaker 1: pouring down the treasures of his grace. Hastening on he
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  Speaker 1: looked upon them. O that look, how full of love?
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  Speaker 1: And the groves became more lovely with a beauty from
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  Speaker 1: above the bride. I am wounded. Who can heal me?
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  Speaker 1: Sorrow laden, lone and sad, longing for thy wonted presence
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  Speaker 1: that alone can make me glad? Come thyself, and do
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  Speaker 1: not tarry. Send no messengers to me. They are powerless
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  Speaker 1: to tell me aught that I would know of Thee
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  Speaker 1: all who serve THEE, men and angels, each in his
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  Speaker 1: determined place speak to me with voice unceasing of thy
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  Speaker 1: comeliness and grace. They but make my wound still greater.
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  Speaker 1: There is that beyond and my reach, and leaves me
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  Speaker 1: sad what I know not, For they stammer in their
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  Speaker 1: speech O my life? How thou persistest in continuing the strife?
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  Speaker 1: For by living on thou livest Where is not thy
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  Speaker 1: real life? All thou knowest of thy lover are as
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  Speaker 1: arrows in thy heart sent to slay thee? Then how
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  Speaker 1: is it thou abidest as thou art, my beloved? Thou
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  Speaker 1: hast planted in my heart the darts of love? Why
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  Speaker 1: dost thou refuse to heal it with the unction from above?
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  Speaker 1: Now that thou hast robbed me of it, I, in
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  Speaker 1: desolation left, why hast thou not taken it with THEE
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  Speaker 1: and thus perfected the theft tribulations overwhelm me by anxieties. Oppressed,
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  Speaker 1: Thou alone canst free me from them. Therefore give me
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  Speaker 1: peace and rest let mine eyes then look upon THEE.
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  Speaker 1: For it is by THEE they see they are Thine,
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  Speaker 1: and thou hast made them. I will keep them all
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  Speaker 1: for THEE. Oh that thou the clouds wouldst scatter that
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  Speaker 1: between us darkly lie show thy face, and in the
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  Speaker 1: beauty of the vision, let me die. For the beatific
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  Speaker 1: vision that makes glad the saints above is the only
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  Speaker 1: perfect healing of the malady of love. Crystal spring of
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  Speaker 1: limpid waters, unexhausted in its flow. Oh, that on thy
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  Speaker 1: silvered surface as a mirror, thou wouldst show unto me
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  Speaker 1: those eyes so lovely and which I so long to see,
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  Speaker 1: For their image is already outlined on my heart. From
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  Speaker 1: thee my beloved, look not at me with those eyes
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  Speaker 1: so full of love. I am flying overpowered the bridegroom,
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  Speaker 1: O return to me, my dove. On the hill the
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  Speaker 1: heart is looming, and the arrow to it clings, and
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  Speaker 1: the air refreshed that stirreth by the motion of thy wings.
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  Speaker 1: The bride, my beloved is the mountains they reveal him
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  Speaker 1: unto me, and the lonely wooded valleys, with the islands
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  Speaker 1: of the sea strange and lovely, and the murmur of
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  Speaker 1: the waters as they flow, and the sweet, entrancing whisper
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  Speaker 1: of the winds that softly blow. My beloved is the silent,
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  Speaker 1: tranquil night before the morn ere the ruddy dawn approaches,
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  Speaker 1: and another day is born. He is music that is
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  Speaker 1: soundless in the wilderness, a voice, and the supper that refresheth,
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  Speaker 1: making hearts that love rejoice. Who will catch for us
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  Speaker 1: the foxes that so cunningly repair to the vineyard Thou planted,
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  Speaker 1: now so fruitful and so fair, While we move among
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  Speaker 1: the flowers, and our hands with roses fill for the
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  Speaker 1: making of a garland. Let none appear on the hill
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  Speaker 1: chilling north wind from thy caverns, send no more the
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  Speaker 1: blasts that kill. Come thou south wind, Love and kindling,
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  Speaker 1: and the air with odors fill there among the fragrant flowers.
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  Speaker 1: My beloved will abide and will feed among the lilies
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  Speaker 1: in the garden of his bride. Now the rose trees
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  Speaker 1: and the flowers bloom and blossom in their beds, and
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  Speaker 1: around the fragrant amber, its delicious perfume sheds. Nymphs of
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  Speaker 1: Judah come not nigh us in the suburbs. Still remain
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  Speaker 1: that ye may not touch the threshold of our house.
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  Speaker 1: Your feet restrain. Hide thyself, then, my beloved, and let
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  Speaker 1: none thy presence trace. Keep from me alone the secret
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  Speaker 1: to the mountains. Turn thy face, but with loving eyes regarding,
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  Speaker 1: look on those who wait on me on my way
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  Speaker 1: among the islands of a strange and stormy scene, the bridegroom,
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  Speaker 1: cruel lions of the forest, crouching in their secret lair,
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  Speaker 1: fawns and doze so wild and restless in all the
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  Speaker 1: birds of the air, nightly terrors that alarm us, gloomy valleys,
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  Speaker 1: lowly plain, burning heat, and lofty mountains, howling winds and
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  Speaker 1: driving rain, by the music of the viles, by the
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  Speaker 1: sirens soothing strain. I adjure you and command you from
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  Speaker 1: your fury to refrain, Cease your clamors, come not nigh
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  Speaker 1: us at a distance, still abide and occasion no disturbance
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  Speaker 1: of the slumbers of the bride. Now the garden sheds
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  Speaker 1: its perfume, for the winter's cold is past, and the bride,
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  Speaker 1: in all her beauty, has into it. At last they
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  Speaker 1: are content among the lilies, in the everlasting arms. She
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  Speaker 1: is tranquility, reposing, henceforth free from all alarms. When I
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  Speaker 1: saw thee wan and weary underneath the apple tree, I
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  Speaker 1: held out my hand in pity and betrothed me unto thee.
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  Speaker 1: When thy mother, deluded, fell in the snare the traitor
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  Speaker 1: laid there. The price of thy redemption in my bitter
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  Speaker 1: death was paid the bride Dens of lions are the
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  Speaker 1: fences that protect the bridal bed, hung with purple, fragrant
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  Speaker 1: flowers all around their perfume shed. It was wrought in
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  Speaker 1: peace and quiet. Who will touch it none so bold
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  Speaker 1: for its manifold adornments are a thousand shields of gold.
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  Speaker 1: They are running in thy footsteps on the road which
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  Speaker 1: thou didst tread, in the odor of the ointment that
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  Speaker 1: was poured upon thy head. The burning fire now has
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  Speaker 1: touched them, and the inner furnace glows, and the strengthening
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  Speaker 1: wine is tasted, while the heavenly balsam flows. My beloved
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  Speaker 1: gently led me by the hand o love Divine placed
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  Speaker 1: me in the inner cellar, where I drank the wondrous wine.
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  Speaker 1: Coming forth, I wandered lonely o'er the plain, and knew
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  Speaker 1: no more. Having lost the flock, I followed in the
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  Speaker 1: days that went before. He embraced me there and taught me,
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  Speaker 1: sitting humbly at his feet, wondrous secrets of his wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: And the learning is so sweet there. I also made
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  Speaker 1: a promise I would be his faithful, bride, true and constant.
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  Speaker 1: By that promise, I will steadfastly abide my beloved, is
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  Speaker 1: my bridegroom, and my Lord, Oh what a joy I
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  Speaker 1: will henceforth all the powers of my soul for him
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  Speaker 1: employ and the flock that once I tended, now I
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  Speaker 1: tend not as before, For my only occupation is to
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  Speaker 1: love him more and more. I have gone away forever
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  Speaker 1: from the haunts of idle men and a sharer in
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  Speaker 1: their follies. I will never be again. They may say,
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  Speaker 1: and say it loudly, I am lost, But I am not.
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  Speaker 1: I was found by my beloved. Oh, how blessed is
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  Speaker 1: my lot. We will go in early morning, while the
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  Speaker 1: dew is on the ground, to the garden where the flowers,
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  Speaker 1: in their beauty may be found, and will make a
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  Speaker 1: garland of them, in which emeralds shall shine, knit and
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  Speaker 1: bound and held together by a single hair of mine.
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  Speaker 1: By that single hair that fluttered on my neck, and
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  Speaker 1: seen by thee, Thou didst look again upon it, and
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  Speaker 1: wert by it drawn to me, Thou wert made a
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  Speaker 1: willing captive, weak and slender though it be. And I
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  Speaker 1: dared to look upon thee, and in looking wounded thee.
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  Speaker 1: While on me thine eyes were resting, full of sweet
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  Speaker 1: and gracious love. They impressed on me their beauty, heavenly
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  Speaker 1: beauty from above. Then thy love flowed in upon me,
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  Speaker 1: and mine eyes obtained the grace that they saw in THEE.
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  Speaker 1: To worship O the beauty of thy face. I was
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  Speaker 1: once unclean and swarthee in a miserable plight. Yet I
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  Speaker 1: pray THEE not to spurn me, or to cast me
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  Speaker 1: from thy sight of my former degradation. There remaineth not
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  Speaker 1: a trace, for thine eyes have rested on me, shedding
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  Speaker 1: comeliness and grace. The bridegroom the little dove, white and
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  Speaker 1: stainless wings her way, returning now to the ark of safety,
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  Speaker 1: bearing in her mouth the olive bough. Now her melancholy
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  Speaker 1: cooings will the turtle dove abate on the verdant banks,
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  Speaker 1: rejoicing in the presence of her mate. Now the little
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  Speaker 1: dove was living in her solitude, at rest, for in
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  Speaker 1: solitude contented she had built herself her nest. The beloved
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  Speaker 1: had been leading into solitude the dove, and in solitude
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  Speaker 1: was wounded with the arrows of her love. The bride
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  Speaker 1: in our common love. Rejoicing my beloved, let us go
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  Speaker 1: to the summit of the mountain, whence the limpid waters flow,
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  Speaker 1: to the hill of contemplation, there each other to behold
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  Speaker 1: in thy beauty. Let us enter into mysteries untold. We
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  Speaker 1: will go at once, together, my beloved and his bride,
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  Speaker 1: to the dark and secret caverns of the rock, and
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  Speaker 1: there to hide. Into those mysterious caverns where no earthly
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  Speaker 1: light can shine. We will enter there in secret, we
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  Speaker 1: will taste the heavenly wine. For within those secret caverns,
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  Speaker 1: thou thyself wilt show to me that which I am
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  Speaker 1: always longing in my inmost heart to see. In the
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  Speaker 1: innermost recesses of the caverns, thou wilt give what the
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  Speaker 1: other day thou gavest o my life. In thee I live,
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  Speaker 1: I shall breathe the air that quickeneth, and the nightingale
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  Speaker 1: shall sing in my raptured ear. The music of her
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  Speaker 1: voice shall sweetly ring pleasant grove in all its beauty,
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  Speaker 1: with the marvels it contains, in the night, with the
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  Speaker 1: fire burning that consumes and never pains. I went in
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  Speaker 1: with my beloved, seen by no created eye, nor with
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  Speaker 1: all his strength and cunning durst, A minne debad come nigh.
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  Speaker 1: Then the siege was intermitted, then abandoned by the foe,
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  Speaker 1: and the cavalry dismounted when it saw the waters flow.
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  Speaker 1: End of section two, Section three of Poetry of Saint
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  Speaker 1: John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Section three. The living flame of Love, O,
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  Speaker 1: living flame of love? How painless is the smart thy
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  Speaker 1: tender wounds create within my very heart. Oh, end at
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  Speaker 1: last the weary strife, and break the web of this
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  Speaker 1: my life. O, gentle hand and touch O wound in
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  Speaker 1: sweetness rife, Oh burning a foretaste of everlasting life. The
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  Speaker 1: debt is paid that long was due, and death by
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  Speaker 1: death brings life anew. O. Lamps of fire that burn
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  Speaker 1: illumining the night scents in its caverns, glows with unaccustomed light.
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  Speaker 1: They once were dark, but now are bright, And whom
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  Speaker 1: my love give warmth and light? How loving thou dost
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  Speaker 1: lie awake within my breast and by thyself alone in
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  Speaker 1: secret there at rest The sweetness of thy blissful breath
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  Speaker 1: makes strong my love and strong as death and Section
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  Speaker 1: three Section four of Poetry of Saint John of the Cross.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section four
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  Speaker 1: A soul longing for the vision of God. I live,
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  Speaker 1: and yet not I in a manner, hoping that I
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  Speaker 1: am dying because I am not dead. I am not
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  Speaker 1: now living in myself, and without God I cannot live,
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  Speaker 1: For without Him I am also without myself. This life
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  Speaker 1: of mine, what is it? A thousand deaths to me?
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  Speaker 1: For I am waiting for my very life, dying because
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  Speaker 1: I am not dead. This life that I am living
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  Speaker 1: is a lifeless life, and so a death continuing until
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  Speaker 1: I come to live with THEE. God. Hear thou my cry,
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  Speaker 1: this life of mine, I will it not? I die
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  Speaker 1: because I am not dead. When I am away from THEE.
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  Speaker 1: What is my life? To me? The agony of death
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  Speaker 1: none greater have I ever seen o wretched that I am.
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  Speaker 1: For while I am living on, I die because I
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  Speaker 1: am not dead. The fish that from the water leapeth
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  Speaker 1: is not without relief. The death that it is endures,
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  Speaker 1: does end in death at last. What death can ever
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  Speaker 1: equal my misery of life? For I the more I live,
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  Speaker 1: the more I die. When I see THEE in the
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  Speaker 1: sacrament and begin to be relieved. The absence of fruition
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  Speaker 1: creates a deeper pang. All brings greater pain, and the
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  Speaker 1: pain is so bitter that I am dying because I
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  Speaker 1: am not dead. And if O Lord, I have a
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  Speaker 1: joy in the hope of seeing THEE, my sorrow is
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  Speaker 1: increased because I fear to lose THEE, living in dread
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  Speaker 1: so great and hoping as I hope I die because
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  Speaker 1: I am not dead from this death. Deliver me, o God,
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  Speaker 1: and give me life. Nor let these fetters hold me.
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  Speaker 1: They are so strong. Behold I die to see THEE.
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  Speaker 1: And in a manner, hoping that I am dying because
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  Speaker 1: I am not dead my death, I will bewail then
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  Speaker 1: and lament my life by reason of my sins. Still
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  Speaker 1: here prolonged, O my God, When shall I be there
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  Speaker 1: where I may truly say I live at last because
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  Speaker 1: I am not dead. And of section four, section five
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  Speaker 1: of poetry of Saint John of the Cross. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Section five Ecstasy of Contemplation.
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  Speaker 1: I entered, I knew not where, and there I stood,
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  Speaker 1: not knowing all science transcending. I knew not where I entered,
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  Speaker 1: for when I stood within, not knowing where I was,
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  Speaker 1: I heard great things. What I heard I will not tell.
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  Speaker 1: I was there as one who knew not all science
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  Speaker 1: transcending of peace and devotion. The knowledge was perfect, in solitude, profound.
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  Speaker 1: The right way was clear. But so secret was it
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  Speaker 1: that I stood babbling all science transcending. I stood enraptured
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  Speaker 1: in ecstasy beside myself, and in my every sense no
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  Speaker 1: sense remained. My spirit was endowed with understanding, understanding not
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  Speaker 1: all science trans The higher I ascended, the less I understood.
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  Speaker 1: It is the dark cloud illumining the night. Therefore, he
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  Speaker 1: who understands knows nothing, ever all science transcending. He who
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  Speaker 1: really ascends so high annihilates himself, and all his previous
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  Speaker 1: knowledge seems ever less and less. His knowledge so increases
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  Speaker 1: that he knoweth nothing all science transcending. This knowing that
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  Speaker 1: knows nothing is so potent in its might that the prudent,
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  Speaker 1: in their reasoning, can never defeat it, for their wisdom
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  Speaker 1: never reaches to the understanding that understandeth nothing all science transcending.
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  Speaker 1: This sovereign wisdom is of an ex excellence so high
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  Speaker 1: that no faculty nor science can ever unto it attain.
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  Speaker 1: He who shall overcome himself by the knowledge which knows nothing,
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  Speaker 1: will always rise all science transcending, And if you would listen,
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  Speaker 1: this sovereign wisdom doth consist in a sense profound of
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  Speaker 1: the essence of God. It is an act of his
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  Speaker 1: compassion to leave us not understanding all science transcending the
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  Speaker 1: same subject. In an act of daring love and not
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  Speaker 1: of hope abandoned, I mounted higher and higher so that
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  Speaker 1: I came in sight of the prey. That I might
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  Speaker 1: come in sight of that prey divine, I was forced
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  Speaker 1: to fly so high as to be lost to sight.
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  Speaker 1: Yet in that act supreme I grew weaker in my flight,
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  Speaker 1: but my love was still so strong that I came
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  Speaker 1: in sight of the prey. When I ascended higher, my
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  Speaker 1: sight grew faint and dim, and my greatest conquest was
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  Speaker 1: in the darkness made. But as my love was strong,
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  Speaker 1: blindly forth I leapt. I mounted higher and higher, so
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  Speaker 1: that I came in sight of the prey. In a
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  Speaker 1: way most strange, I made a thousand flights in one
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  Speaker 1: for the hope that is from heaven what it hopes attains.
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  Speaker 1: This was my only hope, and my hope was not
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  Speaker 1: in vain, for I mounted higher and higher, so that
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  Speaker 1: I came in sight of the prey. But the nearer
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  Speaker 1: I drew in this act sublime, the more lowly, base
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  Speaker 1: and vile and humilion I grew. I said none can
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  Speaker 1: reach it. And abasing myself more and more, I mounted
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  Speaker 1: higher and higher, so that I came in sight of
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  Speaker 1: the prey. End of section five Section six of poetry
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  Speaker 1: of Saint John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Section six. God the Supreme Good,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: without support and with support, without light, and in darkness living,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I see myself wasting away. My soul is detached from
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: everything created and raised above itself into a life delicious
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: of God alone supported. And therefore I will say that
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: what I most esteem is that my soul is now
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: without support and with support. And though I am in
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: darkness in this mortal life, my misery is not so great.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: For if I have not light, I have the life celestial.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: For the love of that life, in the excess of
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: its blindness, keeps the soul submissive without light and in
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: darkness living. Love is doing this. I have known it since,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: for be it ill or well with me, it makes
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: all one joy. It transforms my soul, and so in
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: its sweet flame which in myself I feel, I see
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: myself rapidly burning and wasting away the same subject. For
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: all the beauty of the world. Never will I lose myself,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: but only for that I know not, which happily is found,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: sweetness of good that is finite. The utmost it can
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: do is to pall upon the appetite and vitiate the taste.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: For all the sweetness in the world, never will I
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: lose myself, but only for that I know not, which
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: happily is found. The generous heart will never rest where
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: it can be at ease, but only where it meets
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: with difficulties. Naught can ever satisfy it, And its faith
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: ascends so high as to taste of that I know not,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: which happily is found. He that is on fire with love,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: divinely touched of God, receives a taste so new that
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: all his own is gone. Like one who of a
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: fever ill loathes the food before him and longs for
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: that I know not, which happily is found. Be not
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: at this astonished that the taste should thus be changed.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: For the cause of this affection from all others differs,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and so everything created is an alien to it, and
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: it tastes that. I know not which happily is found.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: For when once the will has been touched of God,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: it never can be satisfied except in God alone. But
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: because His beauty is such that faith alone can see it,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: it tastes it. In I know not what which happily
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: is found. And now of Him enamored. Tell me if
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you are in pain, For there is no sweetness in
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: anything created alone without force and figure, without support or rest.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Tasting there I know not what which happily is found.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Do not think the inner heart, which is of priceless worth,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: rejoices or is glad, and that which here sweetness gives.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: But rather above all beauty raised that is can be,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: or has ever been, tastes there. I know not what
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: which happily is found. He who seeks a greater gain
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: will rather turn his thoughts to that he has not acquired,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: than to that he has already. And therefore for a
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: greater venture I shall always be inclined, neglecting all for
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that I know not which happily is found, For all
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: that in the way of sense I may obtain on earth,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: and all I may understand, however high it may be,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: for all grace and beauty. Never will I lose myself,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: but only for that I know not, which happily is found.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: End of section six Section seven of Poetry of Saint
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: public domain. Section seven Song of the Soul Rejoicing in
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the Knowledge of God by faith. I know the fountain well,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: which flows and runs, though it be night, that everlasting
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: fountain is a fountain hid, And where it is I
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: know well, though it be night, its source I know
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: not because it has none, but I know that therein
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: all things begin. Though it be night. I know that
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: nothing can be in beauty like it, and that of
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: it heaven and earth do drink. Though it be night.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: I know well it is of depths unfathomable, and that
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: none can ever sound it. Though it be night, Its
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: brightness is never dimmed. And I know that from it
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: all light proceeds. Though it be night, I know its
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: streams are so abundant, Its waters hell and Heaven and Earth.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Though it be night. The torrent that from this fountain rises,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I know well, is so grand and so strong, though
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: it be night, This everlasting fountain lies concealed in the
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: living bread to give us life. Though it be night,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: it calls on every creature to be filled with its waters.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: But in the dark, though it be night, this living
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: fountain for which I long, I see in this Bread
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: of life. I see it now, though it be night.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: End of section seven Section eight of poetry of Saint
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: public domain. Section eight. Song of Christ and the Soul.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: A shepherd is alone and in pain, deprived of all
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: pleasure and joy. His thoughts on his shepherdess intent, and
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: his heart is by love most cruelly torn. He weeps
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: not because he is wounded with love, and his distress
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: brings him no pain, though a wound is made in
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: his heart. But he weeps because he thinks he is
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: forgot his beautiful shepherdess. So does he think has forgotten him.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: That thought alone makes him suffer in the land of
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the stranger, and his heart is by love most cruelly torn.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: The shepherd exclaims, ah wretch, that I am, for I
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: am abandoned and left. My presence is shunned by my love,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: and my heart for her love is most cruelly torn.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: At last he was raised on a tree, where he
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: opened his beautiful arms, and on it he died his
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: heart by love most cruelly torn. En Section eight, Section
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: nine of Poetry of Saint John of the Cross. This
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section nine. The
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Most Holy Trinity and the Communication of the Three Persons.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: The Most Holy Trinity in the beginning was the Word.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: The Word was God, in whom he possessed bliss everlasting.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: The Word was God. He is the beginning. He was
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: in the beginning, and never began. He was the beginning itself,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and therefore had none. The Word is the Sun from
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: the beginning born. He has begotten forever and is forever begetting.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: He gives him of his substance forever, and has it
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: ever himself. And thus the glory of the Son is
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: that he hath in the Father, and all his glory.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: The Father hath in the Son, as the lover, with
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: his love, each in the other living. So this love
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: which both unites is one in both in dignity and
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: might coequal with them both three persons and one love.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: The three are one, and in the three one love,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: one lover makes of all the lover is the love
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: in whom each doth live, the being which the three possess,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: each by himself possesses, and of the three, each loves
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the other in that he hath this being. This being
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: is each one, and alone makes them one in a
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: way ineffable beyond the rear words. And so that love
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: which makes them one is infinite itself. For one love
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: makes the one the three, and is their being as well.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: And that love, the more it makes them one, the
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: more it is their love. The communication of the three
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: persons in the love of both, proceeding it hath limits none.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Words of gladness, spoke the father to his only son.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Words they were of joy, profoundest understood of none but
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: of him exulting in them whose they were the son
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: of these words of gladness. Only this was heard by me. Naught,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: my son, can give me pleasure when I have not THEE.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: But if Aught should give me pleasure that I seek
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: in THEE, he who gives to THEE most pleasure gives
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: it most to me. He who THEE in naught resembleth
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: cannot be like me life of life. My whole rejoicing
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: is alone in THEE. Thou art my eternal wisdom, Thou
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: light of my light in THEE, figure of my substance,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: is my whole delight THEE, my son. He who loveth
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: shall have love of me. And the love wherewith I
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: love him. Is my love of THEE. So great then
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: is my love of THEE, that he who loveth THEE
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: shall be also loved by me. End of section nine,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Section ten of poetry of Saint John of the Cross.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section ten
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: The Creation O my son. I long to give THEE
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: in my love a loving bride, who shall, by thy
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: goodness merit with us ever to abide, who shall at
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: the heavenly banquet eating of my bread with me, learn
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: to know the wondrous treasure that I have my son
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: in THEE, and that in thy grace and beauty as
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: a glory round her shed, she with me may joy forever.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Then the Sun gave thanks and said on the bride,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: which thou wilt give me, I my brightness will bestow,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: so that she my Father's goodness in its light, may
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: love and know, learning also how my being from his
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: being doth overflow with my arms. I will embrace her,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and thy love shall be her light. Forever shall thy
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: goodness be exalted with delight the same subject for the
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: merits of thy love. Then be it done, the Father said.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: In the word the Father uttered, all created things were
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: made in the everlasting wisdom rose the palace of the bride,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: which two substances created in a twofold form divide with
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: varieties unnumbered. Was the lower part arrayed, while the higher
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: glowed in beauty, with the wondrous gems displayed that the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: bride might know the bridegroom, who her heavenly nuptials graced
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: the angelic hosts in order. In the higher part were
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: placed Man was placed, his nature lower in the lower part,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: on earth, being fashioned of a substance which was of
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: inferior worth. And although both place and nature God in
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: this way did divide, yet the two are both together,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: but one body of the bride. And the two, although divided,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: are one bride in his one love, who in gladness,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: as the bridegroom is possessed by those above, those below,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: in hope, are living of the faith that He has given.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: For one day he will exalt them. He hath said
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: so unto heaven, For of those of base condition, he
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: will take away the shame and exalt them, so that
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: nothing shall remain to them of blame. He in all things,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: with their likeness, will himself one day invest He will
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: come and dwell among them as his own elected rest.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: God himself will be incarnate. God will have a human birth, eating,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: He will come and drinking and converse with men on earth.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: He will dwell himself among them, and continually stay till
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the final consummation, when the ages melt away. Then shall
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: both rejoice together in the endless life of bliss. For
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: to him belongs the headship of the Bride, and she
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: is his. He shall bring the just together. Naught shall
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: them from her divide, for they are the living members
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: of the body of the Bride. He will tenderly embrace her.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: He will give her of his love, and united with him,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: take her to his Father's home above. Into joy shall
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: she then enter God. No greater joy can give. When
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: absorbed in Him. Forever she the life of God shall live.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: So the Father, Son and Spirit three in one and
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: one in three live, each living in the other, the
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: most Blessed Trinity. End of Section ten, Section eleven of
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: poetry of Saint John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Section eleven The Desires of
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: the Holy Fathers. When the ancient saints were waiting, hope
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: came down to their relief, and made lighter by its
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: presence the sore pressure of their grief. But still hope deferred,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: together with the longing which they had to behold. The
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: blessed bridegroom made them sick at heart, and said, pouring
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: forth their supplications. In their misery, they lay sighing, weeping
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: and lamenting, with strong crying night and day, that He
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: would the times determine and among them come and stay. Oh,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: that I, so one entreated, might rejoice to see his day.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: Hasten then thy work and finish. Send him, Lord, whom
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: thou wilt send, was the cry of one another's. Oh,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: that he the heavens would rend, that I might behold
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: his coming, and my wail be turned to mirth. Let
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the clouds rein down the just one so long desired
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: on the earth. Let the earth which brought forth briars
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: now break forth, and in their room, let it bear
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: the sacred flower, which shall ever on it bloom. Others also, Oh,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: how blessed shall that generation be, which shall merit in
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: time coming God's most holy face to see, men shall
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: throng around and touch him. They shall, in his sight
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: remain in the sacraments, rejoicing. He himself shall then ordain
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: the same subject. These and other supplications as the centuries
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: rolled by men poured forth with greater fervor. As the
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: promised time drew nigh, aged Simeon in the furnace of
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: his longing burning lay, praying God that he would grant
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: him of his grace to see that day. And the
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: ever blessed Spirit condescended to his cry and consoled him
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: with the promise that the old man should not die
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: till he saw the ever living God descending from above,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: took him in his arms and held him and embraced
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: him in his love and Section eleven, Section twelve of
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: poetry of Saint John of the Cross. This LibriVox according
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Section twelve. The Incarnation and
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: the Nativity. The Incarnation, in the fullness of the ages,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: now had come the Holy Tide for the payment of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the ransom of the long expectant bride. Groaning in the
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: house of bondage underneath the legal yoke of the precepts
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: given by Moses. When these words the Father spoke, I,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: my son, have in thy likeness and thy image, may
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: thy bride, and in that resemblance worthy to be ever
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: at thy side. But in one respect, unlike THEE, For
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: her nature is not thine, she is flesh, her nature human,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: while thy nature is divine. Perfect love demands a likeness
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: in the lovers it unites for the most complete resemblance,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: most aboundeth in delights. Now the love and exultation of
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: the bride would greatly grow if she saw THEE in
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: her likeness in the flesh on earth below. Then the
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: Son the Father answered, lo, my will is ever thine,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: and my glory, which I cherish, is that thine is
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: also mine. I am ready at thy bidding, for thy
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: will is my delight to make known at once thy
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: goodness and thy wisdom and thy might. I will manifest
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: thy justice and proclaim throughout the earth thy supremacy and beauty,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: and the sweetness of thy worth. I will go and
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: seek my bride then, and upon myself will take all
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: the poverty and sorrows she now suffers for my sake,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: and that I true love may give her, I will
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: give for her my own. So shall I present her
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: rescued from the pit before thy throne the same subject.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: God then summoned the archangel Holy Gabriel. Him he sent
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: to the blessed Virgin Mary to obtain the maid's consent.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: She consented. In that instant, the mysterious work was done,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: and the Trinity a body wrought and fashioned for the sun.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: In this wondrous operation, though the sacred Three concurred, He
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: who in the womb of Mary was incarnate is the word.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: He who had a father only had a mother also then,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: and it was in other fashion than the manner is
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: of men. In the womb of Holy Mary. He his
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: flesh did then receive. So the son of God most Highest,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: we the son of Man, believe the Nativity. Now at
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: last the destined ages their appointed course had run. When
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: rejoicing from his chamber, issued forth the bridegroom's son. He
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: embraced his bride and held her lovingly upon his breast,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: and the gracious Mother laid him in the manger down
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: to rest. There he lay the dumb beast by him.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: They were fitly stabled there while the shepherds and the
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: angels filled with melody the air. So the feast of
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: their espousals with solemnity was kept. But Almighty God, an
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: infant in the manger, moaned and wept. So the bride
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: at her betrothal, did the bridal gifts arrange. But the
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: mother looked in wonder at the marvelous exchange. Man gave
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: forth a song of gladness, God himself a plaintive moan,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: both possessing that which never had been hitherto their own
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: end of section twelve, Section thirteen of Poetry of Saint
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: public domain. Section thirteen. Superflumina babylonis Psalm one thirty six.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: By the waters of the river close by Babylon, it
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: swept on the banks. My tears were flowing there. I
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: set me down and wept. I remembered thee O Sion
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: with thy love. My heart was sore. Sweet to me
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: was thy memorial. So I wept still more and more
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: of my festal robes divested, those of woe around me flung,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: while my silent harp, suspended from the willow branches, hung there.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I left it, fondly, trusting for my hopes. In thee
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: still lay love. My heart had deeply wounded, and had
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: carried it away. So I said, my wound is grievous.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: O let love me wholly slay into its fires. Then
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: I threw me that I might be burned away. Now
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: the silly moth I blame, not that in the fire
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: seeks its death for I, while in myself but dying,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: draw in thee alone my breath. I for THEE to
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: death submitted, and for THEE to life returned. For in
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: thy most sweet memorial life and death were both inurned
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: in their merriment, exulting, heedless of their captive's wrongs. Strangers
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: bade me rise and sing them Scion's old familiar songs.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: Sing us of the songs of Sion, we would hear them,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: strange demand. How can I, lamenting Sion, sing them in
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: a foreign land, in the chance once so familiar? How
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: can I uplift my voice? May they never be remembered.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: If in exile I rejoice, let my tongue from speech,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: refraining to my palates silent cleave. If I in the
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: land of exile, where I dwell alone and grieve, even
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: amidst the verdant bowers of the Babylonic land, should forget Thee,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: let my right hand cease its cunning to command. If
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: I make not thee o Zion the beginning of my mirth,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: or if I rejoice in keeping any festival of earth,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: Thou of Babylon, the daughter shalt lie prostrate in the dust,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: lost and wretched. But forever blest is he in whom
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I trust. In the day of retribution, He will THEE
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: at last afflict. He will lay on Thee the burden
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Thou didst once on me inflict. He will me thy
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: weeping captive, with thy little children. Take, and to Christ
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: the Rock shall bring them. I have left THEE for
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: his sake. End of section thirteen, Section fourteen of Poetry
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: of Saint John of the Cross. This LibriVox recording is
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Section fourteen. Three songs, The Soul's Craving,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: the Exiled Soul, and Desolation. First song the Soul's Craving.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: If in my lowly state the flames of love had
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: power to swallow death, and should they so increase as
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: to scorch up the waters of the sea, and hence ascending,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: should set a fire the triple elements, and in its
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: flames consuming them, should make of them its fuel. If
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: all these flames were love, I do not think that I,
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: who feel such living thirst for love, could love as
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: I desire, Nor could the flames I number, but for
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: a moment, quench my longing, For they, compared with that
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: eternal and transcendent fire, are of no more import than
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: is an atom to the whole world's bulk, or than
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: a drop of water to the ocean. My heart of
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: miery clay hath neither heat nor more stability than hath
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: the flowering grass, which, in the hour it blooms, is
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: battered by the winds and droops decayed. For never could
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: its fiery blaze ignite my heart as it desires, that
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: it might reach the heights of that eternal father of
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: all lights. O wretched fate which gives to love wings
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: so inadequate. Not only do they fail to compass flight
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  Speaker 1: that is so sublime, as doth that love supreme deserve
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  Speaker 1: they should do, But I perceive alas the powers of
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: my love are so curtailed, that, in its feebleness, with
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: wings close clipped, I hardly reach to see God in
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: the distance. Yet, if from my base sort these flames
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: of love could raise me until I reached to gaze
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: on him and brought me to his presence, so that
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: my God should look upon them, Oh, by his fire eternal,
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: would they be caught with force unspeakable, at once absorbed, absorbed,
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: and swallowed up into everlasting flame converted, wherein my flames,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: being drawn into his flames converted, consuming in his love,
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  Speaker 1: mine own flames burnt, would become one with his most
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: ardent love. Thus would be realized at length the deepest
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: yearning of my breast, seeing himself at length made one
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: with Him, with closest tie, and wholly satisfied. Second song,
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  Speaker 1: the exiled soul, My God, my Lord, do thou remember
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: that I, by faith have gazed upon Thy face, lacking
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: which sight, no bliss exists for me. For since I
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: saw THEE live, I in such sort that there is
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: naught can bring joy to my soul. But for an
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: hour or moment, God of my life, nothing can make
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: me glad. For all all my gladness springs from sight
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: of THEE. And faileth me because I have THEE. Not
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: if tis thy will, my God, I live forlorn I'll
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: take my longing even from my comfort while dwelling in
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: this world with me, No happiness in aught shall bide
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: except the hope of seeing THEE, my God. Where I
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: shall ever dread to lose THEE more, When shall there
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: dawn that most delicious day, when O my glory, I
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: may joy in THEE delivered from this body's heavy load,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: There will my bliss be measureless entire at witnessing how
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: glorious thou art. Wherein will lie the rapture of my life?
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: What will it be when I shall dwell with THEE.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Since suffering doth bring such happiness Upbraise me now, O Lord,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: into thy heaven. Yet, if my life can bring increase
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: of glory to Thine eternal being, in truth, I do
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: not wish that it should end. The unending moment of
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: the bliss of heaven will end my pain and anguish,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: so that I shall remember them no more. I went
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: astray because I served THEE, not as I have gained
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: by knowing THEE my God. Henceforth I crave to love
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: THEE evermore. Third song Desolation, Tell me Heaven, Tell me
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: Earth and ocean, Say ye, mountains, valleys, little hillocks, Tell me, vineyards,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: olive trees, and wheat fields. Tell me, O, ye, plants
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: and flowers and meadows. Answer, where is he who gave
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: to you your beauty and your being? Angels? Ye who
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: joy to look upon him? Blessed souls who love him
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: and possess him, Brides who are desirous of the bridegroom,
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: striving to obtain his sweet caresses? Tell me where is
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: he who gave to you your beauty and your being? Ah?
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  Speaker 1: No answer cometh. All is silence, Lord, when thou speakest,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: not all else is mute. My soul doth vainly seek
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: for THEE within it? My heart is empty and of
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: all bereft. Ah, woe is me? If war should wage
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: within me? Whom should I find to guard me? Whom
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: to shield joy of my soul and glory of my spirit?
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: If thou wert absent, should I victor be? Tell me
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: where thou dost wander, O, my bridegroom, leaving in solitude
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: the heart that loves thee? Where are thy shining rays?
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: O sun resplendent? Why hidest thou thy beams with anxious care?
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  Speaker 1: Thou followest the sinner? Why give no answer? To the
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: one who loves THEE. Why dost thou hide thy face,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: thou friend most cherished, holding me for thine enemy? Wherefore
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: didst thou depart in silence, leaving me with no Farewell
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: be moved, thou, gentle love, by the sad sighs of
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: anguish which break forth for thy return return to me,
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: or bid me follow THEE, or bid me die, but
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: force me not to live while lacking life. Forsooth I
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: will not till I see THEE come. If thou dost
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: dwell in scuide, let me have wings that I may
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: fly to THEE. If in pure souls thou find at
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: thy resting place, why dost not purify this poor polluted heart?
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: If thou dost make thy home within thy creatures, reveal
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: in which of them thou dost repose? Where is thy habitation?
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Tender lover the world without THEE holds no place for me? O,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: ye birds who warble forth, sweet carols, serpents, animals and
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: scaly fish, Tell me, and ye know, Tell me where
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: is he who gave to you your beauty and your being?
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: End of section fourteen Section fifteen of poetry of Saint
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: John of the Cross This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: public domain. Section fifteen. The Dark Knight and O Sweet
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: Dark Knight. The Dark Knight. This cloud of darkness is light, divine, strong, beautiful, pure, inaccessible, delightful,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: intimate being. The sight of God and Him alone which
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: to enjoy, reaches the soul with love, all set of fire,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: becoming blind, beholding naught, the essence is transcended and attained.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: When victory is one over the kingdom that was held
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: by self. She setteth forth, unseen by all, by all, unnoticed,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: searching to find her God by him inflamed. In this departure,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: the soul goes out from self and takes her flight,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: seeking her life. She rises to the Imperial Heaven, casting
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: the veil from off her secret depths, though sallying forth
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: incited by the mastery of her love, yet in herself
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: she holds him, being engaged, enjoying o'er her good to
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: him united, she rests in peace. All images have disappeared,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: the intellect grown blind, the passions quell'd, the powers perforce suspended.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Her glory and her bliss were duly reached by stairs
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: in safety, scaled divine, the way formed by Christ's mysteries.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Now having reached the longed fore end. Resting in her beloved,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: she holds a ceaseless motion, being at peace and fully satisfied.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: That night serene, in which her life and depths enjoy
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: her God. Freed from all pain, she searches long and
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: ardently within herself, and with desire goes forth to meet him.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Love leads the way throughout the dense dark cloud, and
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: with no other teacher, she safely journeys to where God
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: doth reveal to her his beauty. On her trackless path,
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: bereft of intellect and memory, the King Divine doth manifest
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: his might and glory as far as may be in
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: this mortal life, O crystal Knight, led by thy lovely glamor.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: In union Divine, the bridegroom and the bride are now
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: but one, While the soul rejoices over the eternal word.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: A gentle wind, stirred by God's Holy Spirit, delights her
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: very center. Alone. They joy together in a fair meadow
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: by a wall enclosed, while fragrant odors scent the air serene,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: making it like no other earthly spot. The King in
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: whom she lives in pussant power, hath robbed her of herself,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: receiving her as inmate of his palace, holds her bereft
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: entirely of herself. So great the strength and force of
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: him to whom she is united, so weak is she
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: that yielding up herself to him, she loses her own existence,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: being one with him. O Sweet dark night, O sweet
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: dark night, which brings no gloomy shades, but rather thine obscurity.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: The more it blinds, the more it delights the soul,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: and grows in beauty as it grows more dense divine privations,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: blessed darkness, pleasant rest, and secret inspirations. Happy. The soul,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: made blind by such refulgence fortunate exchange, denying self that
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: it may not deny the one who ne'er denies it,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: enters the delicious gulf of that blind night, where they
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: who enter find a vivid light. In the hidden depths
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: of this resplendent darkness, illumined by the sun, which dwelleth
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: in her night is made radiant day, O knight of happiness,
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: which offers joy in such security to the enamored soul,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: that she, in slumber rest and day seems night to her.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: To reach this rest she mounted by the secret hidden stairs.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: When in unconsciousness she on her summits slept, the rays
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: of life fell on her, that ladder of repose, the
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: beauteous mysteries of Christ, that lovely path trod by His
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: well loved sons, wherein a thousand treasures are discovered. She
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: soars aloft by flight, having two lovely wings. Yet once arrived,
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: their delicate plumes are scorched. There she in peace enjoys
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: the secret rays that stream from the beloved, and all
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: her house and its inhabitants are fallen asleep, powerless and
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: free from care, in drowsy rest. The dwellers in her
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: mansions leave her free the bridegroom and enters. Yet when
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: they are aroused, they murmur at their quick awakening. They
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: enjoy His favors in solitude, beholding not the spouse. For
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: still these dwellers are lost in slumber, nor do they
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: make the slightest sound. Then the gentle bride, transformed and
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: turned to her beloved, lives and reposes in him, and
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: draws from him her life, since her own life has
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: been consumed. While in this state has she repose joy,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: life and nourishment. But on returning to her former life,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: she weeps because death lingers on its way. Yet having wept,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: her graces still augmenting with her tears, her trials no
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: longer grieve her, for on suffering she centers all her
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: aims and all her love. Light in darkness, and darkness
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: which withdraws not in the light, distinctness in the mist.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: The mist is manifest in light in this abyss, and
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: is not swallowed up. For shade is set or light
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: divined by God's essence and presence, thus seen through clouds.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: By aid he gives in secret, the soul can, while
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: on earth, enjoy His presence. And of section fifteen, Section
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: sixteen of poetry of Saint John of the Cross. This
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section sixteen. The
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: soul's desire to be with Christ and ecstasy, the soul's
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: desire to be with Christ Ah for the living waters.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: My soul was seized with thirst, insatiate yearning to quit
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: this body and its ills, and quoff of the eternal waters.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: Feign doth it desire to see itself delivered from these guives,
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: For life is tedious, dragged on in exile from that
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: dear Fatherland of fond delight. Its present pains increase by
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: numbering o'er the blessings it has lost, and the heart
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: breaks wounded by piercing pain, despoiled of the possession of
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: its God. Happy that soul and blest which dwelleth ever
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: present in its God, Aye blest a thousandfold, for from
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: a fought it drinks, which to the end of time
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: shall never fail. True Fatherland, Thou solace of the souls
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: that dwell in thee assuaging to the full. The justnes
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: no longer weep within thy borders, but adore their God.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: Our earthly life, compared with thee O never ending life
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: is so contemptible that we may truly say it is
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: not life but death, most burdensome O life, curtailed and hard.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: When shall I see myself despoil'd of thee O narrow sepulcher.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: When will the bridegroom, for so long desired upraise me
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: from thee O God? When shall I be wholly inflamed
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: with thy most sacred love, alas when dawns the day
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: that I may say, farewell to things created and be
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: transported to thee in thy glory when love? O? When
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: when comes the time I shall enjoy such bliss? When
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: comes that when that I this droves forsake? And when
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: such glorious victory? When shall I be united to THEE
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: Good Jesus with a love so strong that no incitement
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: of the world, the flesh, even death itself, nor Eke
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: the devil, can suffice to break the unison? When, O,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: my God, shall I be set on fire with thy
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: sweet loves enkindling? When shall I enter in at last
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: to joy? Or when be offered wholly upon love's altar
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: and consumed? O that without delay this loving love might
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: all to ashes burn ah? When shall I attain to
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: that most blessed state? Never for all eternity to change again?
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: My God, my only good, my glory and my comfort
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: and my bliss. Withdraw me from this mire, this wretched earth,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: to dwell in heaven with THEE for evermore. Let me
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: be one with THEE my God. Nought intervening and withdraw
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: thou what impedes thaw thou my coldness, which doth now
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: obstruct THEE I love, curtailing its full measure. O that
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: thy love flamed with so fierce a glow as to
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: consume my heart, that it dissolved or burnt me wholly
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: and struck from off my soul the body's yoke, O Lord,
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: the portal of thy love to this poor wretch. Give
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: certain hope of everlasting love to this weak, hapless worm
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: of earth. Delay thou not to love, nor to bestow
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: appusant love for THEE, nor tarry thou to turn thy
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: eyes on me, O God, omnipotent, who stand forever present
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: in thy sight. Thou biddest me call THEE, and lo
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: I come with tears and cries to THEE. Thou biddest
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: me love, and that is my desire. But thou, my Lord,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: till when, O God, Till when till when wilt thou
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: delay to answer me? When give to me that love
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: for which I crave, Return and gaze on me, behold
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: I die. And yet it seems thou still dost fly
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: from me, Ah Lord eternal, my soul's delight, my glory,
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: ah sempaternal bounty, day serene, Thou light, thou love, Do
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: not thy grace postpone for THEE. I'll sigh while I
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: am captive in this prison held ne'er will I stay
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: recounting my petitions until thou hast raised up and crowned me.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: If I forget thee my God, my sweetest love, who
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: wooest me, may I into oblivion, dark sink down, Nor
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: of entire creation. Let there be one who of me
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: sad soul takes any thought ecstasy Wrapt in oblivion, the
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: soul doth, in a single moment, learn more than the
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: busy brain and sense, with all their toil, could ever learn.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: Mirrored within its God, it views to day, tomorrow and
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: the past, and faith sees here in time the things
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: that through eternity shall last. End of Section sixteen. End
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: of Poetry of Saint John of the Cross,