WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.380 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.380 --> 00:00:04.330 align:middle line:84%
This is a translation
of a poem by John

00:00:04.330 --> 00:00:07.300 align:middle line:90%
of the Cross, "Dark Night."

00:00:07.300 --> 00:00:09.520 align:middle line:90%
St. John of the Cross.

00:00:09.520 --> 00:00:13.240 align:middle line:84%
After his death, he was
canonized by the church.

00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:20.390 align:middle line:84%
But for most of his life,
the church put him in jail.

00:00:20.390 --> 00:00:22.600 align:middle line:84%
He was a very
controversial figure.

00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:31.750 align:middle line:84%
He was not only a great poet
but a marvelous prose writer.

00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:39.190 align:middle line:84%
And this poem "Dark Night"
is often translated.

00:00:39.190 --> 00:00:43.750 align:middle line:84%
It's generally
translated by writers

00:00:43.750 --> 00:00:46.180 align:middle line:84%
that one feels are very
nervous about the erotic side

00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:46.900 align:middle line:90%
of the poem.

00:00:46.900 --> 00:00:53.380 align:middle line:84%
And it's a poem that joins
religious or mystical feeling

00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:58.450 align:middle line:84%
with erotic feeling,
with a narrative

00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:02.140 align:middle line:90%
of an erotic encounter.

00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:09.130 align:middle line:84%
That mixture of the religious
and the erotic perhaps

00:01:09.130 --> 00:01:11.800 align:middle line:84%
you will recognize from,
say, Bernini's Ecstasy

00:01:11.800 --> 00:01:19.910 align:middle line:84%
of Saint Theresa, a
great Baroque work.

00:01:19.910 --> 00:01:24.060 align:middle line:90%


00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:31.260 align:middle line:84%
In any case, I tried to honor
in this poem both the erotic

00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:39.870 align:middle line:84%
and the mystical or religious,
the transcendental burden

00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.390 align:middle line:90%
of the narrative.

00:01:43.390 --> 00:01:47.110 align:middle line:90%
"Dark Night."

00:01:47.110 --> 00:01:51.430 align:middle line:84%
"In a dark night, when
the light burning was

00:01:51.430 --> 00:01:58.690 align:middle line:84%
the burning of love,
fortuitous night, fated, free,

00:01:58.690 --> 00:02:02.740 align:middle line:84%
as I stole from my dark house,
dark house that was silent,

00:02:02.740 --> 00:02:08.590 align:middle line:84%
grave, sleeping, at the
staircase that was secret,

00:02:08.590 --> 00:02:15.310 align:middle line:84%
hidden, safe, disguised by
darkness, fortuitous night

00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:20.950 align:middle line:84%
fated free by darkness
and by cunning.

00:02:20.950 --> 00:02:25.960 align:middle line:84%
Dark house that was
silent, grave, sleeping.

00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:29.020 align:middle line:84%
In that sweet night,
secret, seen by no one

00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:33.340 align:middle line:84%
and seeing nothing, my only
light or guide the burning

00:02:33.340 --> 00:02:36.700 align:middle line:90%
in my burning heart.

00:02:36.700 --> 00:02:41.890 align:middle line:84%
Night was the guide to the place
where he for whom I waited,

00:02:41.890 --> 00:02:47.290 align:middle line:84%
whom I had long
ago chosen, waits.

00:02:47.290 --> 00:02:54.040 align:middle line:84%
Night, brighter than noon
in which none can see,

00:02:54.040 --> 00:02:59.560 align:middle line:84%
night was the guide, sweeter
than the sun raw at dawn,

00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:04.690 align:middle line:84%
for there the burning
bridegroom, his bride.

00:03:04.690 --> 00:03:10.075 align:middle line:84%
And he who chose
at last is chosen.

00:03:10.075 --> 00:03:12.770 align:middle line:90%


00:03:12.770 --> 00:03:14.630 align:middle line:84%
As he lay sleeping
on my sleepless

00:03:14.630 --> 00:03:17.330 align:middle line:84%
breast, kept from
the beginning for him

00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:23.660 align:middle line:84%
alone, lying on the gift I gave
as the restless fragrant cedars

00:03:23.660 --> 00:03:27.710 align:middle line:84%
move, the restless winds,
winds from the circling parapet

00:03:27.710 --> 00:03:31.745 align:middle line:84%
circling us as I lay there
touching and lifting his hair.

00:03:31.745 --> 00:03:34.520 align:middle line:90%


00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:41.330 align:middle line:84%
With his sovereign hand,
he wounded my neck.

00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:46.865 align:middle line:84%
And my senses, when they
touched that, touched nothing.

00:03:46.865 --> 00:03:49.880 align:middle line:90%


00:03:49.880 --> 00:03:54.710 align:middle line:84%
In a dark night, there
where I lost myself

00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:59.300 align:middle line:84%
as I leaned to rest in
his smooth white breast,

00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:06.050 align:middle line:84%
everything ceased
and left me forgotten

00:04:06.050 --> 00:04:10.540 align:middle line:84%
in the grave of
forgotten lilies."

00:04:10.540 --> 00:04:14.485 align:middle line:90%