The Living Flame of Love (St. John of the Cross)

The 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.

-- St. John of the Cross

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Poem in Spanish
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