The River of Suffering

St. John of the Cross is one of Spain’s top poets. He tried to reform his monastic order and was tortured and imprisoned by his own church. In his tiny prison, while being starved and recovering from being beaten, he wrote many poems, including The Dark Night of the Soul. Seamus Heaney includes a portion of the poem in his work Station Island, XI. In that poem, the poet has to do penance and is asked to translate a poem from Juan de la Cruz. The poem’s refrain affirms that despite the dire circumstances, there is a fountain so deep and beautiful, even the poet can’t mess it up – and he knows this, “although it is the night,” the refrain. The poem is printed here.