The FountainBy John of the Cross(1542 - 1591)English version by Willis Barnstone
How well I know that flowing spring in black of night.The eternal fountain is unseen.How well I know where she has been in black of night.I do not know her origin.None. Yet in her all things begin in black of night.I know that nothing is so fairand earth and firmament drink there in black of night.I know that none can wade insideto find her bright bottomless tide in black of night.Her shining never has a blur;I know that all light comes from her in black of night.I know her streams converge and swelland nourish people, skies and hell in black of night.The stream whose birth is in this sourceI know has a gigantic force in black of night.The stream from but these two proceedsyet neither one, I know, precedes in black of night.The eternal fountain is unseenin living bread that gives us being in black of night.She calls on all mankind to startto drink her water, though in dark, for black is night.O living fountain that I crave,in bread of life I see her flame in black of night.
-- from To Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light, Translated by Willis Barnstone