| CANCIONES DEL ALMA - II - COPLAS |
VERSES ON THE ECSTASY OF DEEP CONTEMPLATION |
| San Juan de la Cruz | trans. A.S.Kline |
Entreme donde no supe y quedéme no sabiendo toda ciencia trascendiendo. Yo no supe dónde entraba pero cuando allí me vi sin saber dónde me estaba grandes cosas entendí no diré lo que sentí que me quedé no sabiendo toda ciencia trascendiendo. De paz y de piedad era la ciencia perfecta, en profunda soledad entendida vía recta era cosa tan secreta que me quedé balbuciendo toda ciencia trascendiendo. Estaba tan embebido tan absorto y ajenado que se quedó mi sentido de todo sentir privado y el espíritu dotado de un entender no entendiendo toda ciencia trascendiendo. El que allí llega de vero de sí mismo desfallece cuanto sabía primero mucho bajo le parece y su ciencia tanto crece que se queda no sabiendo, toda ciencia trascendiendo. Cuanto más alto se sube tanto menos se entendía que es la tenebrosa nube que a la noche esclarecía por eso quien la sabía queda siempre no sabiendo, toda ciencia trascendiendo. Este saber no sabiendo es de tan alto poder que los sabios arguyendo jamás le pueden vencer que no llega su saber a no entender entendiendo toda ciencia trascendiendo. Y es de tan alta excelencia aqueste sumo saber que no hay facultad ni ciencia que le puedan emprender quien se supiere vencer con un no saber sabiendo, toda ciencia trascendiendo. | I entered where there is no knowing, and unknowing I remained, all knowledge there transcending. Where no knowing is I entered, yet when I my own self saw there without knowing where I rested great things I understood there, yet cannot say what I felt there, since I rested in unknowing, all knowledge there transcending. Of peace and of holy good there was perfect knowing, in profoundest solitude the only true way seeing, yet so secret is the thing that I was left here stammering, all knowledge there transcending. I was left there so absorbed, so entranced, and so removed, that my senses were abroad, robbed of all sensation proved, and my spirit then was moved with an unknown knowing, all knowledge there transcending. He who reaches there in truth from himself is parted though, and all that before he knew seems to him but base below, his knowledge increases so that knowledge has an ending, all knowledge there transcending. The higher he climbs however the less he’ll ever understand, because the cloud grows darker that lit the night on every hand: whoever visits this dark land rests forever in unknowing, all knowledge there transcending. This knowledge of unknowing is of so profound a power that no wise men arguing will ever supersede its hour: their wisdom cannot reach the tower where knowing has an ending, all knowledge there transcending. It is of such true excellence this highest understanding, no science, no human sense, has it in its grasping, yet he who, by self-conquering grasps knowing in unknowing, goes evermore transcending. |
Transl. Copyright © A.S.Kline 2008