THE OBSCURE NIGHT OF THE SOUL

Upon an obscure night,

Fevered with love in love’s anxiety,

(O hapless-happy plight !)

I went, noue seing me,

Forth from my house where ail things quiet be.

By night, secure from sight.

And by the secret stair, disguisedly,

(O hapless-happy plight!)

By night and privily,

Forth from my house where ail things quiet be.

Blest night of wandering,

In secret, where by none might I be spied,

Nor I see anything;

Without a light or guide,

Save that which in my heart burnt in ray side.

That light did lead me on,

More surely than the shining of noontide,

Where well I Knew that one Did for my coming bide ;

Where hë abode might none but he abide.

O night that didst lead thus,

O night more lovely than the dawn of light,

O night that broughtest us,

Lover to lover's sight,

Lover with loved in marriage of delight!

Upon my flowery breast,

Wholly for him, and save himself for none, There'did I give sweet rest To my beloved one ;

The fanning of the cedars breathed thereon. When the fîrst moving air

Blew from the tower, and waved his locks aside. His hand, with gentle care,

Dfd wound me in the side,

And in my body ail my senses died.

Ail things I then forgot,

My cheek on him who for my coming came :

Ail ceased, and I was not,

Leaving my cares and shame Among the lilies and forgetting then.