Dark Night of the Soul; What Happens After Mystical Union? [updated March 14, 2013]

The Dark Night of the Soul

Images set to Loreena McKennitt’s music and vocals “The Dark Night of the Soul”, inspired by the Words of St. John of the Cross.

Loreena McKennitt – The Dark Night Of The Soul (HQ)

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
and by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Chorus
Oh night thou was my guide
oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night [ longer version ]
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart

That fire t’was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come

Chorus

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave
And by the fortress walls
the wind would brush his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

Chorus

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lovers breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the mornings mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair

Loreena McKennitt -Interview (part I)

Commentary by Loreena Mckennitt

1. Night of the Alhambra
2. Dante’s Prayer

This artist is not only self-managed, self-produced and an acclaimed singer/composer, but is also the head of her own internationally successful record label, Quinlan Road.

In a recording career spanning nearly two decades, multi-platinum artist Loreena McKennitt has won worldwide critical acclaim for world music she describes as “Eclectic Celtic.” she’s released a DVD document of her performance at Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.

This is the same performance that has been running on PBS station pledge drives for the last year, but with a double CD included. McKennitt’s renditions of songs from An Ancient Muse and her earlier albums are impeccable.

Loreena McKennitt – Raglan Road Live HD stereo

“On Raglan Road” here sung by Canadian singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt, is a well-known Irish ballad from a poem by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh named for Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

It was set to the music of the Irish traditional song “The Dawning of The Day” when the poet met Irish singer Luke Kelly of the Dubliners, who is the song’s most famous interpreter. Loreena, in this concert from The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, sings the song beautifully and with great feeling for the lyrics, a wonderful performance.

On raglan road on an autumn day,
I saw he first and knew
That his dark hair would weave a snare
That i might one day rue.
I saw the danger and yet i walked
Along the enchanted way
And i said let grief be a falling leaf
At the dawning of the day.

On grafton street in november,
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worst of passions pledged.
The queen of hearts still baking tarts
And i not making hay,
For i loved too much; by such and such
Is happiness thrown away.

I gave he the gifts of the mind.
I gave he the secret sign
Thats known to all the artists who have
Known true gods of sound and time.
With word and tint i did not stint.
I gave him reams of poems to say
With his own dark hair and his own name there
Like the clouds over fields of may.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet,
I see he walking now away from me,
So hurriedly. my reason must allow,
For i have wooed, not as i should
A creature made of clay.
When the angel woos the clay, hell lose
His wings at the dawn of the day.

Loreena McKennitt – The Lady Of Shalott HD

On either side of the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the world and meet the sky;
And thro’ the field the road run by
To many-towered Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro’ the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel’d
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces taro’ the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining.
Heavily the low sky raining
Over towered Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott

Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, “She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”

Loreena McKennitt – The Bonny Swans

A farmer there lived in the north country
a hey ho bonny o
And he had daughters one, two, three
The swans swim so bonny o
These daughters they walked by the river’s brim
a hey ho bonny o
The eldest pushed the youngest in
The swans swim so bonny o

Oh father, oh daddy, here swims a swan
with a hey ho and a bonny o
It’s very like a gentle woman
the swans swim so bonny o
They placed her on the bank to dry
with a hey ho and a bonny o
There came a harper passing by
the swans swim so bonny o

He made harp pins of her fingers fair
with a hey ho and a bonny o
He made harp strings of her golden hair
the swans swim so bonny o
He made a harp of her breast bone
with a hey ho and a bonny o
And straight it began to play alone
the swans swim so bonny o

And there does sit my father the King
with a hey ho and a bonny o
And yonder sits my mother the Queen
the swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my brother Hugh
with a hey ho and a bonny o
And by him William, sweet and true
the swans swim so bonny o
And there does sit my false sister, Anne
with a hey ho and a bonny o
Who drowned me for the sake of a man
the swans swim so bonny o

Loreena Mckennitt – Bonny Portmore

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.

O bonny Portmore, I am sorry to see
Such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree
For it stood on your shore for many’s the long day
Till the long boats from Antrim came to float it away.

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.

All the birds in the forest they bitterly weep
Saying, “Where shall we shelter or where shall we sleep?”
For the Oak and the Ash, they are all cutten down
And the walls of bonny Portmore are all down to the ground.

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords of Old England would not purchase Portmore.

Loreena Mckennitt – The Mystic’s Dream HD

Another great song from Loreena McKennit. The Mystic’s Dream from “The Mask and Mirror”.
Lyrics:

A clouded dream on an earthly night
Hangs upon the crescent moon
A voiceless song in an ageles light
Sings at the coming dawn
Birds in flight are calling there
Where the heart moves the stones
It’s ther that my heart is longing
All for the love of you

A painting hangs on an ivy wall
Nestled in the emerald moss
The eyes declare a truce of trust
And then it draws me far away
Where deep in the desert twilight
Sand melts in pools of the sky
When darkness lays her crimson cloak
Your lamps will call me home

And so it’s there my homage’s due
Clutched by the still of the night
And now I feel you move
Every breath is full
So it’s there my homage’s due
Clutched by the still of the night
Even the distance feels so near
All for the love of you.

Prologue by Loreena McKennitt/Quotes from Rumi

Loreena Mckennitt – In the bleak midwinter (music) & 3 more renditions

Gloucester Cathedral Choir – In the Bleak Midwinter

Julie Andrews — In the Bleak Mid-Winter, 1973 Christmas Special

Celtic Woman-In The Bleak Midwinter/The First Noel