Dark Night

When once the night was dark with longing sore
and seemed to me unending in despair
'twas then the misty coast line  quaked with waves
and swallowed up the shaking cliffs of fear.

Of solitude came whispers from the depth
sent into Being by the storm on high
and with the swiftest wind I'd ever felt
my tears were flung like rain drops to the sky.

O Night, immerse my soul in sweet desire!
Oft hidden in the clouds above the sea
'tis lightning burning there, a white hot fire
disguised in black, the sacred agony.

And there, without a guide except your hand
alone. I left the shore and yet endured
beyond the tide of suffering emerged
a heart enslaved by Love, redeemed and pure.

Forsaking every meager lust before,
in purgatory's depth, then heaven's lair,
that mind and flesh are dropped--a garment torn--
and left among the graves, forgotten there.


10-4-09