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← The Spiritual Canticle/Book 1 · El Cántico espiritual
Chapter 2CanticoEsp.1.2

Canciones entre el Alma y el Esposo

The Soul's Lament and the Creatures' Reply

The Bride cries out in anguish over her hidden Beloved, pleads with shepherds and nature itself for news of Him, and receives the creatures' testimony that He passed through and left them clothed in His beauty.

THE BRIDE 1. Where did you hide, Beloved, leaving me behind to moan? You fled like a stag after wounding me; I ran after you, crying out, but you were already gone.1 2. Shepherds, you who go out there by the sheepfolds to the hill, if by chance you see the one I love most, tell him that I languish, suffer, and die.2 3. Seeking my Beloved, I'll go through those mountains and riverbanks; I won't pick the flowers, nor fear the wild beasts, and I'll pass the fortresses and frontiers.✦34 4. O woods and thickets, planted by the Beloved's hand, O green meadow, enameled with flowers, tell me if he has passed by you.5 Reply of the Creatures 5. Pouring out a thousand graces, He passed through these groves in haste, and as He went, looking at them, He left them clothed in His beauty with only His form.6

The Bride's Deepening Longing

The Bride, wounded by love, demands the Beloved's direct presence, refusing all messengers, and describes the paradox of a life that dies from the very arrows of love it receives.

THE BRIDE 6. Ah, who can heal me!✦ Finish giving yourself over truly now; don't send me any more messengers from this day on, for they don't know how to tell me what I want.78 7. And all who wander about go around telling me a thousand of your graces, and each one wounds me more, and an I-don't-know-what that they keep stammering leaves me dying.9 8. But how do you endure, O life, not living where you dwell, and making yourself die by the arrows you receive from what you conceive of the Beloved within you?10 9. Why, then, since you’ve wounded this heart, didn’t you heal it?✦11 And since you’ve stolen it from me, why did you leave it like that, instead of taking the prize you stole?✦12 10. Quench my troubles, since no one else can undo them, and let my eyes see you, for you are their light, and I want to keep them only for you,✦13 11. Reveal your presence, and let your sight and beauty kill me. See, the sickness of love is not healed except by your presence and your form.14 12. Oh crystal fountain, if only in those silvery reflections of yours you would suddenly form the eyes I long for, which I carry drawn deep within me!15 13. Turn them away, Beloved, for I am taking flight.✦16

The Bridegroom's Call and the Bride's Response

The Bridegroom calls the wounded Bride back like a dove, and she responds by describing Him in the beauty of creation and the joys of the mystical night, while asking for protection of the flowering vineyard.

BRIDEGROOM Come back, dove, for the wounded stag appears over the hill, and takes refreshment in the air of your flight.17 Bride 14. My Beloved, the mountains, the solitary wooded valleys, the strange islands, the sounding rivers, the whistle of the loving breezes.18 15. The calm night, Beside the first risings of the dawn, The silent music, The sounding solitude, The supper that refreshes and kindles love.✦19 16. Catch the foxes for us — our vineyard is already in flower — while from roses we make a cluster, and let no one appear on the hillside.20 17. Stay back, dead north wind. Come, south wind, you who awaken love. Breathe through my garden, and let your fragrances flow, and the Beloved will graze among the flowers. 18. Oh, nymphs of Judea, while among the flowers and rosebushes the amber fills the air with scent, stay out in the outskirts, and don't come near our thresholds.21 19. Hide yourself, my dear, and turn your face toward the mountains. Don't try to talk about it; instead, look at the open country of the one traveling through strange islands.2223

The Bridegroom's Song of the Bride's Rest

The Bridegroom commands all creatures to be still so the Bride may sleep in peace, and then celebrates her entrance into the garden and the restoration of their betrothal beneath the apple tree.

BRIDEGROOM 20. To the swift birds, lions, stags, leaping fallow deer, mountains, valleys, riverbanks, waters, winds, burning heats, and the fears that keep watch through the nights.2425 21. By the lovely lyres and songs of Sirens I charge you: let your angers cease, and do not touch the wall, so the Bride may sleep more safely.✦✦ 22. The Bride has entered the lovely garden she longed for, and she rests there at her pleasure, her neck reclining on the sweet arms of the Beloved.26 23. Beneath the apple tree, there you were betrothed to me; there I gave you my hand, and you were restored where your mother had been violated.27

The Bride's Testimony of Divine Union

The Bride describes the bed of spiritual marriage, her intoxication in the wine cellar, the exchange of vows, and the transformation of her soul through the Beloved's gaze, culminating in a plea not to be despised despite her former darkness.

BRIDE 24. Our flowering bed, ringed with lions' dens, spread with purple, built of peace, crowned with a thousand shields of gold. 25. Following your footprint the young ones run along the path— at the touch of a spark, at the spiced wine, outpourings of divine balsam.28 26. In my Beloved's inner wine cellar I drank, and when I came out across this whole meadow, I no longer knew anything, and I lost the flock I used to follow. 27. There he gave me his breast; there he taught me a knowledge most sweet and savory. And I truly gave myself to him, holding nothing back; there I promised to be his bride.29 28. My soul has been given over, along with all I possess, to his service; I no longer tend a flock, nor do I have any other work, for loving is now my only practice.30 29. So if from this day on I'm neither seen nor found on the common pasture, say that I've lost myself—that, walking lovesick, I made myself a stray and was won.3132 30. From flowers and emeralds, picked in the cool mornings, we'll make garlands that blossom in your love, woven with a single hair of mine. 31. In that one hair alone that you watched fluttering on my neck, you looked at it on my neck, and in it you remained captive, and in one of my eyes you were wounded.✦3334 32. When you looked at me, Your eyes imprinted His grace in me; That's why you loved me so deeply, And in that my eyes were worthy To adore what they saw in you.✦35 33. Don't despise me, for if you found me dark, you can now look at me well, after you looked at me — for you left grace and beauty in me.

The Final Dialogue and Vision of Peace

The Bridegroom confirms the Bride's faithfulness with the dove and turtledove imagery, the Bride invites Him to the mountain and caverns for deeper union, and the chapter ends with a vision of calm and the retreat of all adversaries.

BRIDEGROOM 34. The little white dove has returned to the ark with the branch, and now the little turtledove has found her longed-for mate on the green riverbanks.36 35. She lived in solitude, and in solitude she has already set her nest, and in solitude her beloved guides her alone—he too in solitude, wounded by love. BRIDE 36. Let's rejoice, Beloved, and go look upon your beauty—on the mountain and the hill where the pure water springs; let's go deeper into the thicket.37 37. And then we'll go to the high caverns of the rocks that are well hidden, and there we'll go in, and we'll taste the new wine of pomegranates.✦✦38 38. There you would show me what my soul was seeking, and then you would give me—there, you, my life—what you gave me the other day.39 39. The breathing of the air, The song of the sweet nightingale, The grove and its charm, In the serene night With a flame that consumes and causes no pain. 40. That no one was looking at him, nor did Aminadab appear, and the siege was growing calm, and the cavalry was coming down at the sight of the waters.40

Read the original Spanish

ESPOSA

1. ¿Adónde te escondiste, Amado, y me dejaste con gemido? Como el ciervo huiste, Habiéndome herido; Salí tras ti clamando, y ya eras ido.

2. Pastores, los que fuerdes Allá por las majadas al otero, Si por ventura vierdes Aquel que yo más quiero, Decidle que adolezco, peno y muero.

3. Buscando mis amores, Iré por esos montes y riberas, Ni cogeré las flores, Ni temeré las fieras, Y pasaré los fuertes y fronteras.

4. Oh bosques y espesuras, Plantadas por mano del Amado, Oh prado de verduras, De flores esmaltado, Decid si por vosotros ha pasado.

RESPUESTA DE LAS CRIATURAS

5. Mil gracias derramando, Pasó por estos sotos con presura, Y yéndolos mirando, Con sola su figura Vestidos los dejó de su hermosura.

ESPOSA

6. ¡Ay, quién podrá sanarme! Acaba de entregarte ya de vero; No quieras enviarme De hoy más ya mensajero, Que no saben decirme lo que quiero.

7. Y todos cuantos vagan, De ti me van mil gracias refiriendo, Y todos más me llagan, Y déjame muriendo Un no sé qué que quedan balbuciendo.

8. Mas ¿cómo perseveras, Oh vida, no viviendo donde vives, Y haciendo porque mueras, Las flechas que recibes, De lo que del Amado en ti concibes?

9. ¿Por qué, pues has llagado Aqueste corazón, no le sanaste? Y pues me le has robado, ¿Por qué así le dejaste, Y no tomas el robo que robaste?

10. Apaga mis enojos, Pues que ninguno basta a deshacellos, Y véante mis ojos, Pues eres lumbre de ellos, Y sólo para ti quiero tenellos,

11. Descubre tu presencia, Y máteme la vista y hermosura; Mira que la dolencia De amor, que no se cura Sino con la presencia y la figura.

12. ¡Oh cristalina fuente, Si en esos tus semblantes plateados, Formases de repente Los ojos deseados, Que tengo en mis entrañas dibujados!

13. Apártalos, Amado, Que voy de vuelo,

ESPOSO

Vuélvete, paloma, Que el ciervo vulnerado Por el otero asoma, Al aire de tu vuelo, y fresco toma.

ESPOSA

14. Mi Amado, las montañas, Los valles solitarios nemorosos, Las ínsulas extrañas, Los ríos sonorosos, El silbo de los aires amorosos.

15. La noche sosegada En par de los levantes de la aurora, La música callada, La soledad sonora, La cena, que recrea y enamora.

16. Cazadnos las raposas, Que está ya florecida nuestra viña, En tanto que de rosas Hacemos una piña, Y no parezca nadie en la montiña.

17. Detente, cierzo muerto, Ven, austro, que recuerdas los amores, Aspira por mi huerto, Y corran tus olores, Y pacerá el Amado entre las flores.

18. Oh, ninfas de Judea, En tanto que en las flores y rosales El ámbar perfumea, Morá en los arrabales, Y no queráis tocar nuestros umbrales.

19. Escóndete, Carillo, Y mira con tu haz a las montañas, Y no quieras decillo; Mas mira las campañas De la que va por ínsulas extrañas.

ESPOSO

20. A las aves ligeras, Leones, ciervos, gamos saltadores, Montes, valles, riberas, Aguas, aires, ardores, Y miedos de las noches veladores.

21. Por las amenas liras Y cantos de Sirenas os conjuro Que cesen vuestras iras, Y no toquéis al muro, Porque la Esposa duerma más seguro.

22. Entrádose ha la Esposa En el ameno huerto deseado, Y a su sabor reposa, El cuello reclinado Sobre los dulces brazos del Amado.

23. Debajo del manzano Allí conmigo fuiste desposada, Allí te di la mano, Y fuiste reparada Donde tu madre fuera violada.

ESPOSA

24. Nuestro lecho florido, De cuevas de leones enlazado, En púrpura tendido, De paz edificado, De mil escudos de oro coronado.

25. A zaga de tu huella Los jóvenes discurren al camino Al toque de centella, Al adobado vino, Emisiones de bálsamo divino.

26. En la interior bodega De mi Amado bebí, y cuando salía Por toda aquesta vega, Ya cosa no sabía, Y el ganado perdí que antes seguía.

27. Allí me dio su pecho, Allí me enseñó ciencia muy sabrosa, Y yo le dí de hecho A mí, sin dejar cosa; Allí le prometí de ser su esposa.

28. Mi alma se ha empleado, Y todo mi caudal, en su servicio, Ya no guardo ganado Ni ya tengo otro oficio; Que ya sólo en amar es mi ejercicio.

29. Pues ya si en el ejido De hoy más no fuere vista ni hallada, Diréis que me he perdido, Que, andando enamorada, Me hice perdidiza y fui ganada.

30. De flores y esmeraldas En las frescas mañanas escogidas, Haremos las guirnaldas, En tu amor florecidas, Y en un cabello mío entretejidas.

31. En solo aquel cabello Que en mi cuello volar consideraste, Mirástele en mi cuello, Y en él preso quedaste, Y en uno de mis ojos te llagaste.

32. Cuando tú me mirabas, Su gracia en mí tus ojos imprimían; Por eso me adamabas, Y en eso merecían Los míos adorar lo que en ti vían.

33. No quieras despreciarme, Que si color moreno en mí hallaste, Ya bien puedes mirarme, Después que me miraste; Que gracia y hermosura en mí dejaste.

ESPOSO

34. La blanca palomica Al arca con el ramo se ha tornado, Y ya la tortolica Al socio deseado En las riberas verdes ha hallado.

35. En soledad vivía, Y en soledad ha puesto ya su nido, Y en soledad la guía A solas su querido, También en soledad de amor herido.

ESPOSA

36. Gocémonos, Amado, Y vámonos a ver en tu hermosura Al monte y al collado, Do mana el agua pura; Entremos más adentro en la espesura.

37. Y luego a las subidas Cavernas de las piedras nos iremos, Que están bien escondidas, Y allí nos entraremos, Y el mosto de granadas gustaremos.

38. Allí me mostrarías Aquello que mi alma pretendía, Y luego me darías Allí tú, vida mía, Aquello que me diste el otro día.

39. El aspirar del aire, El canto de la dulce Filomena, El soto y su donaire, En la noche serena Con llama que consume y no da pena.

40. Que nadie lo miraba, Aminadab tampoco parecía, Y el cerco sosegaba, Y la caballería A vista de las aguas descendía.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.3.1-Song.3.4 — On my bed, night after night, I sought the one my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him. Song.3.2 — I will rise now and go about the city, through the streets and through the squares; I will seek the one my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. Song.3.3 — The watchmen who go about the city found me. "Have you seen the one my soul loves?" Song.3.4 — Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of her who conceived me.
  2. ↩Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
  3. ↩Song.2.5;Song.4.9 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. Song.4.9 — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
  4. ↩Song.4.9 — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
  5. ↩Ps.27.1 — Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; whom shall I dread?
  6. ↩Song.6.5 — Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
  7. ↩Song.6.10 — Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as those with banners?
  8. ↩Song.2.7 — I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
  9. ↩Song.8.9-Song.8.10 — If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with a plank of cedar. Song.8.10 — I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.
  10. ↩Song.4.9;Song.4.9 — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck. Song.4.9 — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
  11. ↩Song.4.9;Song.1.15 — You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck. Song.1.15 — Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.
  12. ↩Song.2.14 — O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding place of the steep path, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
  13. ↩Song.8.2 — I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house— she who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩ciervo rendered as 'stag' to keep the Song of Songs/hart image; 'deer' is equally plain English if preferred.
  2. 2 ↩adolezco: rendered as 'languish' for lovesick wasting/ailing; alternatives include 'ail' or 'am sick with longing'.
  3. 3 ↩mis amores: rendered as 'my Beloved' (the Bridegroom), matching the Canticle's address and neighboring 'Aquel que yo más quiero'; a more literal 'my loves' is possible but less natural in English.
  4. 4 ↩fuertes: taken as fortresses/strongholds (not 'the strong'), paired with fronteras as barriers the Soul will cross.
  5. 5 ↩verduras here means lush green growth/vegetation, not culinary greens; esmaltado is San Juan's enamel/inlay metaphor for a flower-strewn meadow.
  6. 6 ↩gracia here is divine gift (grace), not ordinary Spanish thanks; figura is the Beloved's form/likeness by which creation is clothed in beauty.
  7. 7 ↩Archaic Spanish de vero = de veras, ‘truly / in earnest.’ Rendered as ‘truly.’
  8. 8 ↩Imperative acabar de + infinitive: ‘finish / complete giving yourself,’ not the recent-past sense of acabar de.
  9. 9 ↩gracias: divine excellences/beauties of the Beloved (not 'thanks').
  10. 10 ↩Spanish 'haciendo porque mueras' is purposive ('doing so that you die'), not causal 'because'; rendered as 'making yourself die by' to keep the arrows as the means of that dying-in-love.
  11. 11 ↩llagado: rendered as 'wounded'; the verb implies a love-wound (llaga), not mere injury.
  12. 12 ↩el robo: rendered as 'the prize' for the stolen heart as love's plunder; more literally 'the theft' / 'what was stolen'.
  13. 13 ↩enojos: rendered as 'troubles' (afflictions/distresses of the soul), not mere 'angers'; common in this mystical register.
  14. 14 ↩Spanish 'figura' kept as 'form': the manifested form/likeness of the Beloved, not a mere outline or metaphor.
  15. 15 ↩semblantes plateados: rendered as 'silvery reflections' (the fountain's mirrored surface); also possible are 'silvery faces/likenesses'.
  16. 16 ↩Apártalos refers to the 'ojos deseados' of the previous stanza (the Beloved's eyes mirrored in the fountain). Voy de vuelo marks sudden rapture/flight of the soul under that gaze, not literal physical flying.
  17. 17 ↩fresco toma: the stag cools/refreshes himself in the breeze stirred by the dove's flight; rendered as 'takes refreshment' to keep the mystical sense without archaic 'takes the cool'.
  18. 18 ↩nemorosos rendered as 'wooded' (grove-covered); ínsulas kept as 'islands' for the archaic Spanish form; silbo as 'whistle' (also 'whisper'); aires amorosos as 'loving breezes' rather than the more archaic 'loving airs'.
  19. 19 ↩cena can mean ordinary supper or the mystical banquet; kept as 'supper' to preserve the traditional Eucharistic/bridal overtone without forcing a sacramental gloss.
  20. 20 ↩piña here means a dense cluster or bunch of flowers gathered together, not the fruit.
  21. 21 ↩ámbar: fragrant amber/ambergris perfume, not the gemstone; kept as 'amber' for the traditional poetic image.
  22. 22 ↩Carillo is an affectionate diminutive of caro; rendered as "my dear one" to keep the tender address without archaic "Beloved" diction.
  23. 23 ↩haz is archaic Spanish for countenance/face; "turn your face toward" renders mira con tu haz.
  24. 24 ↩ardores: rendered as 'burning heats' (physical heats of the day/air); could also be taken as fervors or fires in the mystical landscape.
  25. 25 ↩miedos de las noches veladores: 'veladores' agrees with 'miedos' — fears that keep watch / watchful night-fears, not merely 'fears of the watching nights'.
  26. 26 ↩"a su sabor" rendered as "at her pleasure" (as she likes / to her taste); the Spanish also carries the sense of savoring delight.
  27. 27 ↩reparada: rendered as 'restored' (made whole / healed), the primary sense in San Juan's bridal theology; 'repaired' would be too mechanical. violada: kept as 'violated' for the Fall/Eve allusion rather than softened to 'corrupted' or 'wounded'.
  28. 28 ↩adobado = seasoned/spiced (Song of Songs vinum conditum), not 'marinated' in the culinary sense.
  29. 29 ↩"pecho" is the Spouse's breast: nurturing, intimate mystical self-gift (not merely physical anatomy). "ciencia muy sabrosa" is experiential knowledge of God, sweet to the taste—not academic learning.
  30. 30 ↩"caudal" is the soul's whole store—faculties, goods, and powers. "ganado" (flock/livestock) keeps the pastoral vocation metaphor: former cares and occupations left behind so that love alone remains the soul's work.
  31. 31 ↩ejido: the village commons / shared grazing ground in the pastoral allegory; rendered as "common pasture."
  32. 32 ↩me hice perdidiza y fui ganada: deliberate self-loss that results in being won/gained by the Beloved; the paradox is intentional.
  33. 33 ↩consideraste: Golden Age sense is attentive watching/regarding, not modern 'consider'; rendered as 'watched'.
  34. 34 ↩te llagaste: keep 'wounded' for the mystical wound of love; not softened to 'hurt'.
  35. 35 ↩adamabas (from adamar): intensive love beyond ordinary amar; rendered as 'loved me so deeply' to keep the heightened force without archaism.
  36. 36 ↩Spanish diminutives palomica and tortolica keep a tender register; rendered as 'little dove' and 'little turtledove.' Socio deseado is the Beloved as longed-for mate/companion, not a social 'partner' in the modern secular sense.
  37. 37 ↩Do is archaic Spanish for donde ('where'); rendered as where. Espesura is the dense wood/thicket of contemplative mystery, not mere underbrush.
  38. 38 ↩Spanish mosto is unfermented must / new wine; rendered as "new wine" to keep the Song-of-Songs intoxication sense without archaic diction.
  39. 39 ↩Spanish pretendía here means sought / aimed at / longed for, not modern English 'pretended'.
  40. 40 ↩Spanish 'lo' is grammatically neuter/masculine; rendered as 'him' for the Beloved, the usual sense in this bridal scene. 'It' (the hidden place or encounter) is also possible.

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