maandag 13 december 2021

St John of the Cross "O, living flame of love"

 

Songs of the soul in the intimate communication of loving union with God.

              O living flame of love
              that tenderly wounds my soul
              in its deepest center! Since
              now you are not oppressive,
              now consummate! if it be your will:
              tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

              O sweet cautery,
              O delightful wound!
              O gentle hand! O delicate touch
              that tastes of eternal life
              and pays every debt!
              In killing you changed death to life. 

              O lamps of fire!
              in whose splendors
              the deep caverns of feeling,
              once obscure and blind,
              now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
              both warmth and light to their Beloved.

              How gently and lovingly
              you wake in my heart,
              where in secret you dwell alone;
              and in your sweet breathing,
              filled with good and glory,
              how tenderly you swell my heart with love. 

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