The Dark Night Of The Soul

This poem, by San Juan de la Cruz, is possibly the most famous of all Spanish poems. It was written in the sixteenth century, at a time when Spain was the most psychopathic, hierarchical state in the world. In the search for gold and power the Spanish military destroyed the autonomous republics of Italy, made war on the prosperous people of the Netherlands and murdered millions of South Americans. The Crown of Castile even waged war on its own people, demanding the unconditional worship of Hierarchy through the Inquisition, demanding ideological conformity, attacking racial and religious minorities, persecuting merchants who made their wealth through trade and manufacture rather than through corporate power.
A dark night of poverty, war and social upheaval descended upon Europe, a dark night  that was to last until the triumph of  reaction against tyranny with the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688, a quarter of a century before the Spanish military bureaucratic complex finally extinguished any autonomy of any sort within Spain itself, with the conquest of Catalonia in 1714.
In dark times people often take refuge in beauty, through the contemplation of the Lord.

En una noche oscura,
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 y encelada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;

en la noche dichosa
en secreto, que nadie me veía,
ni yo miraba cosa,
sin otra luz y guía,
sino la que en la corazón ardía,

Aquesta me guiaba,
más cierto que la luz del mediodia,
adonde me esperaba,
quien yo bien me sabía,
en parte donde nadie parecía.

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

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.

On a dark night,
Inflamed by love's yearnings,
Oh, such happiness awaits me!
I went out without being seen,
With my house all at rest.

With a firm step, in the darkness,
In disguise, I climbed the secret stairway,
Oh, such happiness awaits me!
Concealed by the darkness,
My house all at rest.

In the happy night,
In secret, seen by nobody,
I saw not a thing,
With neither light nor guide,
Except that which burned in my heart.

The light burning in my heart guided me,
More surely than the midday sun,
To the One who was waiting for me,
The One I knew so well,
In a place where no one would disturb us.

Oh, dark night, you guided me!
Oh, night lovelier than the dawn!
Oh, dark night, you joined together,
The Beloved with his lover,
His lover transformed by the Beloved.

Upon my ample breast,
Which I keep for Him alone,
There I caressed Him
While He lay sleeping,
And the breeze from the cedars cooled the air.

The breeze blew down from the castle walls,
As I softly ruffled his hair,
With his gentle hand,
He touched my neck, wounding me,
Leaving me breathless, my senses stunned.

I stayed still, and forgot myself,
My face I leant against my Beloved,
Everything stopped, and I abandoned myself to Him,
Leaving my cares behind,
Forgotten amongst the lilies.