SR
Dark Night of the Soul/Book 1 · Noche oscura del alma
Chapter 21NocheOscura.1.21

Libro Segundo — Capítulo 4

The Song of the Dark Night

The author introduces the first stanza of the poem, which describes the soul's secret and inflamed departure into the dark night of contemplation.

The first song is presented here, along with its explanation. Song 1 On a dark night, with yearning, inflamed with love, oh happy fortune! I went out without being noticed, my house already at rest.1

Read the original Latin

Pónese la primera canción y su declaración.

CANCION 1ª

En una noche oscura, con ansias, en amores inflamada, ¡oh dichosa ventura! , salí sin ser notada estando ya mi casa sosegada.

Notes

  1. 1"mi casa sosegada" is the soul's image for the house of the faculties and appetites now quieted; "at rest" keeps that sense without allegorizing in the verse line itself.

Dark Night of the Soul companion

A daily portion of stillness

Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.

Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.

  • Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
  • A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
  • Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app)