Monday, December 15, 2014

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
Poem source
Poem in Spanish
Image source

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