THE DARK NIGHT OF
THE SOUL
BY
LOREENA
MCKENNITT
When it came time to pick our processional music, there was
no discussion. We mutually and
instantly agreed on The Dark Night of the
Soul, from Loreena McKennitt’s album The Mask and Mirror, despite
the fact that the title seems an unlikely choice for wedding music.
Written in the late 1400’s by St. John of the Cross, the poem that this
song was derived from is a strikingly moving devotional to God.
We find, however, that the poem – and therefore the song – works
along all levels of love as defined by the Greeks: Agape, Philia, Storge and
Eros. Here are Ms. McKennitt’s
commentary, and the song itself.
***
I looked back and forth through the window of 15th
century Spain, through the hues of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and was
drawn into a fascinating world: history, religion, cross-cultural
fertilization…For some medieval minds the mirror “was the door through which
the soul frees itself by passing”…for others the pursuit of personal
refinement was likened to “polishing the mirror of the soul.” From the more familiar turf of the west coast of Ireland,
through the troubadours of France, crossing over the Pyrenees and then to the
west through Galicia, down through Andalusia and past Gibraltar to Morocco…The
Crusades, the pilgrimage to Santiago, Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Sufis
from Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, the Celtic sacred imagery of
trees, the Gnostic gospels…who was God? And
what is religion, what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed…and what was the
mask and what the mirror?
May, 1993 – Stratford…have been reading through the
poetry of 15th century Spain, and I find myself drawn to one by the
mystic writer and visionary St. John of the Cross; the untitled work is an
exquisite, rightly metaphoric love poem between himself and his god.
It could pass as a love poem between any two at any time…His approach
seems more akin to early Islamic or Judaic works in its more direct route of
communication to his god…I have gone over three different translations of the
poem; and am struck by how much a translation can alter our interpretation.
Am reminded that most holy scriptures come to us in translation,
resulting in a diversity of views. – Loreena McKennit
Upon
a darkened night
The
flame of love was burning in my heart
And
by a lantern bright
I
fled my house while all in quiet rest
Shrouded
by the night
And
by the secret stair I quickly fled
The
veil concealed my eyes
While
all within lay quiet as the dead
Oh
night thou was my guide
Oh
night more loving than the rising sun
Oh
night that joined the lover
To
the beloved one
Transforming
each of them into the other
Upon
that misty night
In
secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without
a guide or light
Than
that which burned so deeply in my heart.
That
fire ‘twas led me on
And
shone more bright than of the midday sun
To
where he waited still
It
was a place where no one else could come
Within
my pounding heart
Which
kept itself entirely for him
He
fell into his sleep
Beneath
the cedars all my love I gave
From
o’er the fortress walls
The
wind would brush his hair against his brow
And
with its smoothest hand
Caressed
my every sense it would allow
I
lost myself to him
And
laid my face upon my lover’s breast
And
care and grief grew dim
As
in the morning’s mist became the light
There
they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There
they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There they dimmed amongst
the lilies fair
Lyrics: St. John of the Cross, arranged and adapted by LM.
Music: LM; Brian
Hughes – guitar, electric sitar; Hugh
Marsh – fiddle
George Koller – cello, esraj
Commentary and lyrics © 1994 Quinlan Road
Limited & Loreena Mckennitt
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