Annikah von Steiger/Introduction

In darkness all went right, By secret ladders, in clandestine clothes, (O gamble of delight!) In darkness I arose, Leaving behind a house in cold repose.	And in the luck of night In secret places where no other spied I went without my sight Without a light to guide Except the heart that lit me from inside.	It blazed my trail and shone A surer path than noonday rays could show Toward where there waited one Whom only I could know Out in a place where only we could go.
—St. John of the Cross, from The Dark Night of the Soul