St. John of the Cross on the Love between the Soul and God

I

In the wisdom of the night

When darkness surrounded the blazing sun

I languished for you,

Lost in the immense density

Of my frail physicality, precious

Peace present, perhaps, but

Ceasing to enkindle the fire

Wrought of a heart broken wide open.

Reeling from undulating pain

Thankfully never torpid,

I persisted in this foolish endeavor

Displaying neither indifference

Nor a certain alacrity,

Only accepting the humility of my lot

Which was steadfast, courageous,

Even unintentionally morose.

Believing that the longing for my Beloved

Now unabashedly awakened

Would hold no remorse,

Indeed would preclude any proclivity

For unrequited love,

I determined to withstand the

Weariness of wanton neglect,

Knowing all the while the source of my desire.

Realization comes perhaps with greater urgency

Yet is better tested in fire or water,

In the passionate intensity, the enormous energy

Surrounding this frenzy of increasing volition

Which my freedom neither requires nor obligates me to:

I long to see my Beloved,

I long to tell my Beloved that

I am in love.

II

Hoping that your faint whisper

Would descend decidedly, prominently 

Marking me, making me yours for

Ever relinquishing any semblance of 

Control created by cowardice, courtship

Comes unannounced, quietly in surrendering 

Silence, simplicity spreading your arms 

Around me, knowing the love in hand.

Tasting the kiss kept hidden for so long

Limits fall loosely, leaving paths

Well trod, fresh paths perceived in pain

Persist, though, understand the deepening, dense

Darkness driving light, pouring life 

Love, undoing boundaries in Love

Incredible appetite, is the feast

Far too hungry, too happy in dining at this meal.

Preparation pronounces progression in deepening 

Desire derides no detour, only what can transpire

When Lover and Loved learn Love in First Movement,

Dance so slowly, intention altogether ceases to be

Reality unfolds, out of the creases of time

Intertwined to Be before borders were set,

Yet life flows between the breathing, the awakening

My Beloved knows me, as precious no one does.

Precisely when I knew you knew me

Nothing matched more profoundly the

Knowing than the Unknowing, mysterious

Majestic Mind of the Feast, perhaps

Promised as of old nearing the

Newness of youth yet ripening,

Reaching maturation in this

Your virginal birth.

III

Beholding the burning flame fire flickering

Freely formless to form, participation,

Perception persuades me of the undying, untiring

Love silently serene, joyfully the 

Passion penetrates my soul bereft of all pain

Rejoicing in strong solitude such

Grace grows equally between 

My Beloved and me.

Beauty original, fresh, begetting more beauty

Uncreated beauty evoking breathtaking beauty,

Inner eye of mine bathed in your beauty

Seeing your beauty that is ever 

My beauty is forever in your beauty

Bequeathed to me, in this birthing of beauty

Brought forth in brilliance, darkness

Born though of patience, knowledge and love.

Being swept, serenaded into the divine whirlwind

This trinitarian dance of erotic love, mystical

Music made of silent sounds seem

Sweeter somehow in the embrace of my Beloved for

Faith courageously conceived has created me in 

Likeness in image now beyond form,

Transformed me into elegant 

Effervescent extravagant ecstatic Love.

Giving gracious gratitude, praise

Beyond measure, moments, eternal glory

Dazzling in the light, moments, eternal glory

Shimmering out of sight, joined in conjugality

Consummation completes the night

Wherein the heart rooted in the Beloved

Desirously grows, bringing to fruition what 

Generously, capaciously, continues on and on.