The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John Of The… | Poetry Foundation

Thus the dark night of the soul exists for the sole purpose of furthering love, a love that is partially realized in each experience of the dawn. In the last verse of his final poem, John writes of this awakening: How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart, where in secret you dwell alone; and in your sweet breathing, filled with good and glory,

In the Christian mystical tradition one of the great texts is Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross, in which he talks about the periods of loneliness, fear, and doubt that one goes through after the initial awakenings into the light. Evagrius,

For guidance, I turned to a poem called “Dark Night of the Soul” by a sixteenth-century mystic, St. John of the Cross.

For guidance, I turned to a poem called “Dark Night of the Soul” by a sixteenth-century mystic, St. John of the Cross.