Cantico de la esposa - Saint John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 — 14 December 1591), was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic and Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.
He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature.

Saint John of the Cross

Here are some lines of a poem named “The Wife's Canticle”. This poem is started with a rhetorical question which consists a series of complaints from the wife feeling abandoned by her lover. There are a number of symbols and metaphors in this poem: “wife” is the soul, desperately seeking God / Jesus Christ (lover) that has been lost.
In this first stanza the soul complains of having lost God's favor after it has been shown to her briefly.
“Shepherds” are the mystics, in the same way that Jesus Christ is the shepherd of all souls.

Cantico de la esposa

¿Adónde te escondiste,
amado, y me dejaste con gemido?
como el ciervo huiste,
habiéndome herido;
salí tras ti, clamando, y eras ido.

Pastores, los que fuerdes
allá, por las majadas, al otero,
si por ventura vierdes
aquél que yo más quiero,
decidle que adolezco, peno y muero.

Buscando mis amores,
iré por esos montes y riberas;
ni cogeré las flores,
ni temeré las fieras,
y pasaré los fuertes y fronteras.

(Pregunta a las Criaturas)

¡Oh bosques y espesuras,
plantadas por la mano del amado!
¡Oh prado de verduras,
de flores esmaltado,
decid si por vosotros ha pasado!

translated into English:
The Wife's Canticle

Where did you hide,
My beloved, and left me wailing?
As the deer you ran away,
After having hurt me:
I followed you, weeping, and you were gone.

Shepherds, whoever you are,
There, with the herds, in the hills,
If by chance you see him
Whom I love the most,
Tell him I suffer, I grieve, I die.

Seeking my love,
I will go among those mountains and shores,
I will neither collect flowers,
Nor fear the beasts,
And I will pass by forts and borders.

(Question to the Creatures)

Oh, forests and thickets,
Planted by the hand of my beloved,
Oh, fields of greenness,
Of embellished flowers,
Tell me if by you he has passed.

ترجمه به فارسی:
سرود همسر

کجا پنهان شدی، معشوق من؟
و مرا نالان رها کردی؟
چونان آهویی گریختی،
پس از آزار من:
به دنبالت گریستم، اما تو رفته بودی.

شبانان ، هر آن کس که هستید ،
آنجا، با گله ها، در تپه ها ،
اگر اتفاقاً او را دیدید،
به کسی که من بیش از همه عاشقش هستم ،
به او بگویید که من رنج می برم، من غمگین هستم، من می میرم.

به دنبال عشقم ،
میان آن کوهها و ساحل خواهم رفت،
نه گل ها را جمع آوری خواهم کرد،
نه از حیوانات خواهم ترسید،
و از دژها و مرزها عبور خواهم کرد.

(پرسش از مخلوقات)

آه ، جنگل ها و بیشه ها،
که به دست معشوق من کاشته شده اید،
آه ، کشتزارهای سرسبز،
با گل های آراسته،
به من بگویید آیا او از کنار شما عبور کرده است