And All Sensations Left...

 

On my flowering bosom,

Kept whole for Him alone,

There He reposed and slept;

And I cherished Him, and the waving 

Of the cedars fanned Him.

As his hair floated in the breeze

That from the turret blew,

He struck me on the neck

with His gentle Hand,

And all sensation left me. 

Saint John of the Cross , Dark Night of the Soul, Stanza 6 & 7

So as we proceed through this dark night, we see the  speaker  has reached her destination and has been reunited with her lover.  This stanza depicts a scene of rest after the connection was made with the Beloved resting on a "flowery Bosom"...one that has opened to receive ( is how I see it). Of course, this is not just the chest but the heart. This heart was kept whole for God alone...the only true love. There He reposed and slept...This kind of depicts the idea that God finds a certain rest, a certain peace in our love. This image of the sacred heart in Christ emerges in my mind as I read that too as would have been expressed in Christian artwork at the time.   But the point is: God/ Christ...is resting directly on the heart...that close. Cherished...speaking to the deep love this speaker had within.  and the waving of the  cedars fanned Him. Not sure of the significance of that other than to show how even nature was worshipping and honoring Him. There is a very "maternal" type of love being expressed in this stanza. I am starting to wonder if the speaker is intended as a Carmelite nun? Saint John had a lot to do with that order. Is this depicting the marriage union a sister would have with Christ? 

We see the Christian Anglo-Saxon image of Christ now in the seventh stanza...hair floated in the breeze. This breeze blew from the castle tower ...so we have this picture of the lovers under a tree close to a castle..( as would be seen in many 15 th century art pieces).  He struck me on the neck with His gentle hand....( good to note that the translation in the book creates a more sensual image).  So though struck seems quite violent, it was done with a gentle Hand. Regardless we have this idea of what happens when we get strangled or hit in the carotid...we lose all consciousness...all awareness of the senses. And all sensations left me.  Most important to note here, is that this stanza shows how the speaker has been taken beyond the senses...beyond the body and the connection with the material world... which is the quest of many spiritual seekers. So, so far the speaker has left what they knew, gone through the dark night of the soul, found God, connected with God in the most intimate of ways, opened their heart fully and is now losing all sense of self....going into darkness again?

Hmm! And the plot thickens lol.

All is well! 

Saint John of the Cross/ David Lewis Translator ( 1908) Dark Night of the Soul. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/157984/the-dark-night-of-the-soul