Dark Night of the Soul

[instrumental intro] [Verse] In a dark night, With anxious love inflamed, O, happy lot! Forth unobserved I went, My house being now at rest. [Verse] In darkness and in safety, By the secret ladder, disguised, O, happy lot! In darkness and concealment, My house being now at rest. [Chorus] In that happy night, In secret, seen of none, Seeing nought myself, Without other light or guide Save that which in my heart was burning. [instrumental] [Verse] That light guided me More surely than the noonday sun To the place where He was waiting for me, Whom I knew well, And where none appeared. [Chorus] O, guiding night; O, night more lovely than the dawn; O, night that hast united The lover with His beloved, And changed her into her love. [instrumental] [instrumental] [Verse] On my flowery bosom, Kept whole for Him alone, There He reposed and slept; And I cherished Him, and the waving Of the cedars fanned Him. [Verse] As His hair floated in the breeze That from the turret blew, He touched me on the neck With His gentle hand, And all sensation left me. [instrumental] [Verse] I continued in oblivion lost, My head was resting on my love; Lost to all things and myself, And, amid the lilies forgotten, Threw all my cares away. [Chorus] O, guiding night; O, night more lovely than the dawn; O, night that hast united The lover with His beloved, And changed her into her love. [outro] . . . [end]