This poem by the Spanish writer John of the Cross was created during his imprisonment in Carmelite Monastery of Toledo. During this time, he suffered the lack of writing and created and held the most significant part of the poem in his mind. He later wrote down the poem at the request of his friend, who gave it in publishing. The poem is an allegorical story of the soul's travel to find God. The poem represents a human's soul as a wife and Christ as a husband. It represents the wife's suffering and her desire to find the beloved one until they finally unite in the solitude of the divine garden.