Lyr Add: The Dark Night of the Soul (L McKennitt)

06 Mar 98 - 03:11 AM (#23140)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (L McKennitt)
From: Ezio

THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (6:44)

Music by Loreena McKennitt; lyrics by St. John of the Cross and arranged and adapted by Loreena McKennitt

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
And by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Chorus:
Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart
That fire t'was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come

(Chorus)

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave
From o'er the fortress walls
the wind would his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

(Chorus)

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lover's breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the morning's mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair

Sung by McKennitt on "The mask and the mirror"

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04 Feb 10 - 05:29 PM (#2830182)
Subject: Lyr Add: NOCHE ESCURA DEL ALMA (San Juan de la Cru
From: Jim Dixon

I was interested in seeing how closely McKennitt stuck to the original, which was in Spanish. I found the Spanish but I couldn't find another English translation, so I used Google Translate, and wound up with a version that surely isn't perfect but close enough to satisfy my curiosity.

Spanish from Autores Españoles é Hispano-Americanos by José Rogerio Sánchez (Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Ca., 1911)

NOCHE ESCURA DEL ALMA.
San Juan de la Cruz (1549-91)


En una noche escura,
Con ansias en amores inflamada
¡Oh dichosa ventura!
Salí, sin ser notada,
Estando ya mi casa sosegada.

A escuras y segura
Por la secreta escala disfrazada
¡Oh dichosa ventura!
A escuras, encelada,
Estando ya mi casa sosegada.

En la noche dichosa,
En secreto, que nadie me vela,
Ni yo miraba cosa
Sin otra luz ni guía
Sino la que en el corazón ardía,

Aquesta me guiaba
Más cierto que la luz de mediodía,
Adonde me esperaba
Quien yo bien me sabia
En parte donde nadie parecía.

¡Oh noche, que guiaste,
Oh noche amable más que la alborada,
Oh noche, que juntaste
Amado con amada,
Amada en el Amado trasformada!

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.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
St. John of the Cross (1549-91)
(translation by Google)

In a night dark,
Kindled in love with longing
Oh, happy chance!
I went out, unnoticed,
My house being now at peace.

In darkness and secure
By the secret ladder, disguised
Oh, happy chance!
In the dark, Enceladus,
My house being now at peace.

In the happy night,
In secret, that no one candle,
Nor I beheld aught
Without light or guide
But that which burned in my heart,

This guided me
More certain than the noonday sun,
Where I expected
I well knew who
In place where none appeared.

O night, which led them,
O night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh night that joined
Beloved with lover,
Amada transformed in the Beloved!

In my flowering breast
That whole was kept for himself,
He fell asleep
And I caressed him,
And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.

The air turret
When I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand
In my neck hurt,
And all my senses to be suspended.

I remained and forgot(?):
The face on my Beloved.
He stopped everything and leave me,
Leaving my cares
Forgotten among the lilies.

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