St John of the Cross: 'But have been found again'

"So now if from this day
I am not found among the haunts of men,
Say that I went astray
Love-stricken from my way,
That I was lost, but have been found again."

Words by St John of the Cross, translated by Roy Campbell, 
and set to music here by the composer Geoffrey Burgon: 
performed by the choir of Chichester Cathedral directed by Alan Thurlow

"My Love's the mountain range,

The valleys each with solitary grove,

The islands far and strange,

The streams and sounds that change,

The whistling of the lovesick winds that rove.

Before the dawn comes round

Here is the night, dead-hushed with all its glamours,

The music without sound,

The solitude that clamours,

The supper that revives us and enamours.

Now flowers the marriage bed

With dens of lions fortified around it,

With tent of purple spread,

In peace securely founded,

And by a thousand shields of gold surmounted.

Tracking your sandal-mark

The maidens search the roadway for your sign,

Yearning to catch the spark

And taste the scented wine

Which emanates a balm that is divine.

Deep-cellared is the cavern

Of my love's heart, I drank of him alive:

Now, stumbling from the tavern,

No thoughts of mine survive,

And I have lost the flock I used to drive.

He gave his breast; seraphic

In savour was the science that he taught;

And there I made my traffic

Of all, withholding naught,

And promised to become the bride he sought.

My spirit I prepare

To serve him with her riches and her beauty.

No flocks are now my care,

No other toil I share,

And only now in loving is my duty.

So now if from this day

I am not found among the haunts of men,

Say that I went astray

Love-stricken from my way,

That I was lost, but have been found again."

St John of the Cross

translated by Roy Campbell