I have admitted to you my sin,
I have no longer concealed my guilt;
I said:
"I will confess to the Lord my faults;"
and you have pardoned the malice of my sin.
That’s why the faithful man prays to you
in times of anguish;
when great waters come rushing down
they will never reach him.
I have admitted…
Happy is the man,
whose fault is forgiven,
and whose sin is pardoned!
Happy is the man
to whom God imputes no evil,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
I have admitted…
I kept silent and my bones were wasting away,
while I groaned all the day long;
day and night your hand weighed upon me
and, like a summer drought, my strength was drying up.
But I have admitted to you my sin,
I have no longer concealed my guilt;
I said: "I will confess to the Lord my faults;"
and you have pardoned the malice of my sin.
I have admitted…

Upon a dark night,
ablaze with love, with urgent longings,
O happy chance! –
I left without being noticed,
my house at last completely quiet.
In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, in disguise,
O happy chance! –
in darkness and concealed,
my house at last completely quiet.
On this blessed night,
in secret and not seen by anyone,
I beheld nothing
with any other light or guide
but for that which in my heart was burning.
And this was guiding me,
more surely than the light of noon,
to where he was awaiting me –
he whom I knew so well –
and no one, no one else was there.
O night that was my guide!
O night more lovely than the dawn's first light!
O night that united
the Lover with his beloved,
the beloved in her Lover transformed.
Upon a dark night…
O night that was my guide…