St John of the Cross – searchable text
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Noche oscura
En una noche oscura,
con ansias, en amores inflamada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;
a oscuras y segura
por la secreta escala, disfrazada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
a oscuras y encelada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;
en la noche dichosa,
en secreto, que naide me veía
ni yo miraba cosa,
sin otra luz ni guía
sino la que en el corazón ardía.
Aquesta me guiaba
más cierto que la luz del mediodía
adonde me esperaba
quien yo bien me sabía
en parte donde naide parecía.
¡Oh noche que guiaste!;
¡oh noche amable más que la alborada!;
¡oh noche que juntaste
Amado con amada,
amada en el Amado transformada!
En mi pecho florido,
que entero para él solo se guardaba,
allí quedó dormido,
y yo le regalaba,
y el ventalle de cedros aire daba.
El aire del almena
cuando yo sus cabellos esparcía
con su mano serena
en mi cuello hería,
y todos mis sentidos suspendía.
Quedéme y olvidéme,
el rostro recliné sobre el Amado;
cesó todo y dejéme,
dejando mi cuidado
entre las azucenas olvidado.
Once in the dark of night
Once, in the dark of night,
in anxious fear, by burning love possessed,
-such fortune, such delight!-
I set out on my quest
unseen, now that my house was all at rest.
In darkness, safe in flight,
by secret stairway and in borrowed dress,
-such fortune, such delight!-
in dark and hiddenness,
and when my house at length was all at rest.
Upon that happy night,
in secret, for I could not be espied,
nothing in my sight,
no other light or guide
but for the heart’s fire blazing bright inside.
Its burning guided me
more surely than the light of noonday clear
to where there waited he
who was to me most dear,
there, where none other would appear.
Oh night! my steps you lighted!
Oh night more lovely than when dawn breaks cover!
Oh night, you that united
beloved with lover,
lovers each transformed into the other!
Upon my flowering breast,
which wholly and for him alone was true,
there he lay at rest
and my caresses grew
and breezes from the waving cedars blew.
From castle keep aloft
the breeze, as I caressed his flowing hair,
its touch so gentle, soft,
wounded my neck, and there
my senses were removed from every care.
In self-forgetfulness I lay,
my face on the beloved I reclined;
all ended, fell away,
my every care consigned
among the lilies, out of sight and mind.
Source
San Juan de la Cruz (1982), Obras completas, 11th edn, ed. by Lucinio Ruano de la Iglesia (Madrid: Biblioteca de autores cristianos). English translation by © Colin Thompson 2021.