> [[jc-sc-02|← Prologue – Song of the Soul and the Bridegroom]] | [[jc-s-canticle-toc|TOC]] | [[jc-sc-04|Argument →]] # Song of the Soul and the Bridegroom [Source](https://ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/canticle/canticle.iv.html) **I** THE BRIDE Where have You hidden Yourself, And abandoned me in my groaning, O my Beloved? You have fled like the hart, Having wounded me. I ran after You, crying; but You were gone. **II** O shepherds, you who go Through the sheepcots up the hill, If you shall see Him Whom I love the most, Tell Him I languish, suffer, and die. **III** In search of my Love I will go over mountains and strands; I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts; And pass by the mighty and the frontiers. **IV** O groves and thickets Planted by the hand of the Beloved; O verdant meads Enameled with flowers, Tell me, has He passed by you? **V** ANSWER OF THE CREATURES A thousand graces diffusing He passed through the groves in haste, And merely regarding them As He passed Clothed them with His beauty. **VI** THE BRIDE Oh! who can heal me? Give me at once Yourself, Send me no more A messenger Who cannot tell me what I wish. **VII** All they who serve are telling me Of Your unnumbered graces; And all wound me more and more, And something leaves me dying, I know not what, of which they are darkly speaking. **VIII** But how you persevere, O life, Not living where you live; The arrows bring death Which you receive From your conceptions of the Beloved. **IX** Why, after wounding This heart, have You not healed it? And why, after stealing it, Have You thus abandoned it, And not carried away the stolen prey? **X** Quench my troubles, For no one else can soothe them; And let my eyes behold You, For You are their light, And I will keep them for You alone. **XI** Reveal Your presence, And let the vision and Your beauty kill me, Behold the malady Of love is incurable Except in Your presence and before Your face. **XII** O crystal well! Oh that on Your silvered surface You would mirror forth at once Those eyes desired Which are outlined in my heart! **XIII** Turn them away, O my Beloved! I am on the wing: THE BRIDEGROOM Return, My Dove! The wounded hart Looms on the hill In the air of your flight and is refreshed. **XIV** My Beloved is the mountains, The solitary wooded valleys, The strange islands, The roaring torrents, The whisper of the amorous gales; **XV** The tranquil night At the approaches of the dawn, The silent music, The murmuring solitude, The supper which revives, and enkindles love. **XVI** Catch us the foxes, For our vineyard has flourished; While of roses We make a nosegay, And let no one appear on the hill. **XVII** O killing north wind, cease! Come, south wind, that awakens love! Blow through my garden, And let its odors flow, And the Beloved shall feed among the flowers. **XVIII** O nymphs of Judea! While amid the flowers and the rose-trees The amber sends forth its perfume, Tarry in the suburbs, And touch not our thresholds. **XIX** Hide yourself, O my Beloved! Turn Your face to the mountains, Do not speak, But regard the companions Of her who is traveling amidst strange islands. **XX** THE BRIDEGROOM Light-winged birds, Lions, fawns, bounding does, Mountains, valleys, strands, Waters, winds, heat, And the terrors that keep watch by night; **XXI** By the soft lyres And the siren strains, I adjure you, Let your fury cease, And touch not the wall, That the bride may sleep in greater security. **XXII** The bride has entered The pleasant and desirable garden, And there reposes to her heart's content; Her neck reclining On the sweet arms of the Beloved. **XXIII** Beneath the apple-tree There were you betrothed; There I gave you My hand, And you were redeemed Where your mother was corrupted. **XXIV** THE BRIDE Our bed is of flowers By dens of lions encompassed, Hung with purple, Made in peace, And crowned with a thousand shields of gold. **XXV** In Your footsteps The young ones run Your way; At the touch of the fire And by the spiced wine, The divine balsam flows. **XXVI** In the inner cellar Of my Beloved have I drunk; and when I went forth Over all the plain I knew nothing, And lost the flock I followed before. **XXVII** There He gave me His breasts, There He taught me the science full of sweetness. And there I gave to Him Myself without reserve; There I promised to be His bride. **XXVIII** My soul is occupied, And all my substance in His service; Now I guard no flock, Nor have I any other employment: My sole occupation is love. **XXIX** If, then, on the common land I am no longer seen or found, You will say that I am lost; That, being enamored, I lost myself; and yet was found. **XXX** Of emeralds, and of flowers In the early morning gathered, We will make the garlands, Flowering in Your love, And bound together with one hair of my head. **XXXI** By that one hair You have observed fluttering on my neck, And on my neck regarded, You were captivated; And wounded by one of my eyes. **XXXII** When You regarded me, Your eyes imprinted in me Your grace: For this You loved me again, And thereby my eyes merited To adore what in You they saw **XXXIII** Despise me not, For if I was swarthy once You can regard me now; Since You have regarded me, Grace and beauty have You given me. **XXXIV** THE BRIDEGROOM The little white dove Has returned to the ark with the bough; And now the turtle-dove Its desired mate On the green banks has found. **XXXV** In solitude she lived, And in solitude built her nest; And in solitude, alone Has the Beloved guided her, In solitude also wounded with love. **XXXVI** THE BRIDE Let us rejoice, O my Beloved! Let us go forth to see ourselves in Your beauty, To the mountain and the hill, Where the pure water flows: Let us enter into the heart of the thicket. **XXXVII** We shall go at once To the deep caverns of the rock Which are all secret, There we shall enter in And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate. **XXXVIII** There you will show me That which my soul desired; And there You will give at once, O You, my life! That which You gave me the other day. **XXXIX** The breathing of the air, The song of the sweet nightingale, The grove and its beauty In the serene night, With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains. **XL** None saw it; Neither did Aminadab appear The siege was intermitted, And the cavalry dismounted At the sight of the waters. --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-jc-sc]] > [[jc-sc-02|← Prologue – Song of the Soul and the Bridegroom]] | [[jc-s-canticle-toc|TOC]] | [[jc-sc-04|Argument →]]