Poems of St John of the Cross

The Poems of St John of the Cross by St John of the Cross, translated by Roy Campbell, 48 pages

The sixteenth century Spaniard St John of the Cross was a unique genius as a poet and as a mystic.  One of the leaders of the Discalced reformers of the Carmelites, St John wrote many of his poems while he was imprisoned by his unreformed brethren - some of them were composed without pen or paper.  His poetry is self-consciously in the tradition of the Song of Songs - achingly beautiful love poems about absolute Love.  In Roy Campbell the saint found a translator with both the talent and the sensibility his works require.