Dark tavern of souls

In the black tavern of sorrows we knelt

On seats of wonder and bewilderment

Though, in the darkness we could not see,

Yet we found our way to fill our casks,

That we may forget where we are.

In one night, a new guest arrives

A lady with fire in her hand

She smelt like the running water of clear rivers

And stood among us, as if awaiting the attention of all souls,

All whilst holding a fire that lit our dark cavern

We could not know who she was, nor did our minds grasp the words she said

However, our eyes did what they were born to do.

They gazed.

She spoke of things we did not know,

She spoke of dreams,

of aspiration, of people,

of Love

We feared what she said, but I stood up and shouted

“You speak of what we can never see, what will never be”

And she gazed upon my eyes, that were made for her

She said “Yet it is here”

And the fire she held in her hand kept burning

I stood angrily

Walking toward this lady of light,

My wonder and bewilderment ran away

Her voice became noise

Her smell soot

She threatened my despair,

My darkness

And eyes turned to me

So I put my hand in the fire

And it was no more.

And she never went

Walk in the Night and do not worry, God is with us

 
It took me about 6 months, but finally did I have the honour of completing the book "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross. a book for those who wish to tread on the path to God, instructing and reminding of what in the words of the saint, will definitely happen to those eager for union with the Beloved. That being the night of the sense and the night of the soul, called the night, that it is a passive purgation of sin, like the child who was used to the milk of their mother's breast, being put down that they might learn to walk alone. Called nights for the light of illumination is so powerful, that it blinds, like the staring at the sun.  Called the night, for it illuminates the soul so greatly, that the darkness within the heart is shown, for the few to the very root of their sin, that it might be plucked by the contemplation and hiding in the garments of faith, hope and charity, that one would ascend the ladder to God, through God, by God, who illuminates the will (desire to love) and the understanding (knowledge).

I would like to share one passage from the book that was not consistent to how the rest of book is written, but has profound advice:

"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labour so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker."

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