The Dark Alaskan Winter of the Soul [With Apologies to St. John of the Cross]

I.

The night is so fucking dark.

My soul longs for comfort.

Speak comfort, I beg you!

I walk alone, no eyes on me,

Out from an empty house without rest.


II.

There's safety in the dark,

Slipping through secret ways unseen.

Speak comfort, I beg you!

Concealed in the dark

This house sits empty without peace.


III.

Wandering through the forgiving dark

Alone, apart, unseen and unknown,

I can't see the me I wish to forget 

And the only guide I follow

Is the burning in my heart, seeking.


IV.

That burning light was my guide

O, that it would lead me to you!
Show me to the place where you're waiting!

I used to know it well,

But I can't find it anymore.

V.

Night which guides me,

Gentle night, more forgiving than the dawn.

A place where lovers meet;

I long to see my Beloved.

Night, be that which guides me to him.


VI.

Once he came into my heart,

A sanctuary where he sat enthroned,

A dwelling place of peace and respite,

I cherished him and felt that love 

That evaded me wholly in the dark.

VII.

I dreamed I saw him,

Drifting through the clouds,

Returning with a fiery coal from the brazier.

He placed it on my lips, (O, excruciating agony!)
And the darkness swelled around me again.


VIII.

I was lost to sensation,

Held in his tender arms,

Beyond the pain of all things and myself.

I set it down there

On the shores of the river Babylon and wept.