St. John of the Cross considered his poetry to be the most authentic expression of his theology and his ineffable mystical experience. St. Teresa's poetry has not received the same acclaim and attention as John's. But like him, she used poetry as a way of expressing the ineffable -- the divine flame of love which consumed her. These translations accurately preserve the meaning of the original poems, retain their rhyming schemes and utilize meters as close to the original as possible. Each page of English translation faces the original Spanish text of the poems.
