The higher he ascends,

The darker is the wood;

It is the shadowy cloud

That clarified the night,

And so the one who understood

Remains at last unknowing,

All reason now transcended.

This knowledge by unknowing

Is such a soaring force

That scholars argue long

But never leave the ground.

Their reason always fails the source:

To understand unknowing,

All reason now transcended.

– Saint John of the Cross