St. John of the Cross (1542–1594)
Flame of Living Love
Oh flame of living love,
so tenderly you wound
my soul in its innermost place!
Now that you are no longer elusive,
end, if you wish,
rend the cloth of this sweet encounter.
Oh soft healing of the flesh!
Oh delicate wound!
Oh tender hand! Oh delicate touch,
that tastes of eternal life,
and pays all debt!,
Killing, you have changed death to life.
Oh lamps of fire,
in whose shining
the deep caverns of sense,
that was dark and blind,
with strange exquisiteness
cast light and heat near its beloved!
How meek and loving
you awaken in my breast,
where secretly you live;
and in your delightful breath,
full of glory and goodness,
how delicately you love me!
Translated by María Baranda and Paul Hoover.
St. John of the Cross (1542–1594) was a mystical poet and Carmelite, who with his lifelong friend Teresa of Avila, was involved in attempts to reform the Carmelites. In the midst of his attempts at reform, he was kidnapped and imprisoned in a cupboard in a Carmelite priory in Toledo, Spain. His escape is at least one impetus for his most famous poem Dark Night. This version comes from The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz (Milkweed, 2021), p.69.
Selected by Amy Frykholm: amy@journeywithjesus.net
