The soul is right in daring to say, may the vision of your beauty be my death, since she knows that at the instant she sees this beauty she will be carried away by it, and absorbed in this very beauty, and transformed in this same beauty, and made beautiful like this beauty itself, and enriched and provided for like this very beauty.
Reveal Your presence,
And may the vision of Your beauty be my death;
This presence is so sublime that the soul feels an immense hidden being is there
. . from which some semi-clear glimpses of His divine beauty emerge
. . And these bear such an effect on the soul that she ardently longs for what she feels hidden there in that presence
At this time the soul faints with longing to be engulfed in that supreme good she feels present and hidden, for although it is hidden she has a significant experience of the good and delight present there. Accordingly she is drawn and carried toward this good more forcibly than any material object is pulled toward its centre of gravity. With this longing and heartfelt desire, unable to contain herself any longer, the soul begs: Reveal Your Presence.
St John of the Cross. The Spiritual Canticle (11:10)
