Meditation: St. John of the Cross-Spiritual Canticle

5 strophes  were used from the Canticle

O spring like crystal!

              If only, on your silvered-over
faces,

              you would suddenly form

              the eyes I have desired,

              which I bear sketched deep within
my heart.

 

            Following
your footprints

              maidens run along the way;

              the touch of a spark,

              the spiced wine,

              cause flowings in them from the
balsam of God.

 

               When
you looked at me

               your eyes imprinted your grace in me;

              for this you loved me ardently;

              and thus my eyes deserved

             
to adore what they beheld in you.

 

            The small white dove

              has returned to the ark with an
olive branch;

              and now the turtledove

              has found its longed-for mate

             
by the green river banks.

 

           She lived in solitude,

              and now in solitude has built her
nest;

              and in solitude he guides her,

              he alone, who also bears

             
in solitude the wound of love.