The Mask and Mirror (1994), The Dark Night of The Soul
Context: Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast
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.
Source: Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955), p. 78
Source: Kenneth Rexroth's translations, One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (1976), p. 34
“Like a moth to a flame
Burned by the fire.
My love is blind
Can't you see my desire?”
That's the Way Love Goes
janet. (1993)
En una noche oscura,
con ansias, en amores inflamada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;
One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace! —
I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.
In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.
Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast
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
Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)
Dark Night of the Soul
To-night.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“When I look at the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes!”
The Evening Darkens Over http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/bridges1.html, st. 1.
Poetry
