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Dante Alighieri - Paradiso (English)
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  Reflecting from herself the eternal rays.

Not from that region which the highest thunders
  Is any mortal eye so far removed,
  In whatsoever sea it deepest sinks,

As there from Beatrice my sight; but this
  Was nothing unto me; because her image
  Descended not to me by medium blurred.

"O Lady, thou in whom my hope is strong,
  And who for my salvation didst endure
  In Hell to leave the imprint of thy feet,

Of whatsoever things I have beheld,
  As coming from thy power and from thy goodness
  I recognise the virtue and the grace.

Thou from a slave hast brought me unto freedom,
  By all those ways, by all the expedients,
  Whereby thou hadst the power of doing it.

Preserve towards me thy magnificence,
  So that this soul of mine, which thou hast healed,
  Pleasing to thee be loosened from the body."

Thus I implored; and she, so far away,
  Smiled, as it seemed, and looked once more at me;
  Then unto the eternal fountain turned.

And said the Old Man holy: "That thou mayst
  Accomplish perfectly thy journeying,
  Whereunto prayer and holy love have sent me,

Fly with thine eyes all round about this garden;
  For seeing it will discipline thy sight
  Farther to mount along the ray divine.

And she, the Queen of Heaven, for whom I burn
  Wholly with love, will grant us every grace,
  Because that I her faithful Bernard am."

As he who peradventure from Croatia
  Cometh to gaze at our Veronica,
  Who through its ancient fame is never sated,

But says in thought, the while it is displayed,
  "My Lord, Christ Jesus, God of very God,
  Now was your semblance made like unto this?"

Even such was I while gazing at the living
  Charity of the man, who in this world
  By contemplation tasted of that peace.

"Thou son of grace, this jocund life," began he,
  "Will not be known to thee by keeping ever
  Thine eyes below here on the lowest place;

But mark the circles to the most remote,
  Until thou shalt behold enthroned the Queen
  To whom this realm is subject and devoted."

I lifted up mine eyes, and as at morn
  The oriental part of the horizon
  Surpasses that wherein the sun goes down,

Thus, as if going with mine eyes from vale
  To mount, I saw a part in the remoteness
  Surpass in splendour all the other front.

And even as there where we await the pole
  That Phaeton drove badly, blazes more
  The light, and is on either side diminished,

So likewise that pacific oriflamme
  Gleamed brightest in the centre, and each side
  In equal measure did the flame abate.

And at that centre, with their wings expanded,
  More than a thousand jubilant Angels saw I,
  Each differing in effulgence and in kind.

I saw there at their sports and at their songs
  A beauty smiling, which the gladness was
  Within the eyes of all the other saints;

And if I had in speaking as much wealth
  As in imagining, I should not dare
  To attempt the smallest part of its delight.

Bernard, as soon as he beheld mine eyes
  Fixed and intent upon its fervid fervour,
  His own with such affection turned to her

That it made mine more ardent to behold.


Paradiso: Canto XXXII


Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator
  Assumed the willing office of a teacher,
  And gave beginning to these holy words:

"The wound that Mary closed up and anointed,
  She at her feet who is so beautiful,
  She is the one who opened it and pierced it.

Within that order which the third seats make
  Is seated Rachel, lower than the other,
  With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.

Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was
  Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole
  Of the misdeed said, `Miserere mei,`

Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending
  Down in gradation, as with each one`s name
  I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.

And downward from the seventh row, even as
  Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women,
  Dividing all the tresses of the flower;

Because, according to the view which Faith
  In Christ had taken, these are the partition
  By which the sacred stairways are divided.

Upon this side, where perfect is the flower
  With each one of its petals, seated are
  Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

Upon the other side, where intersected
  With vacant spaces are the semicircles,
  Are those who looked to Christ already come.

And as, upon this side, the glorious seat
  Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats
  Below it, such a great division make,

So opposite doth that of the great John,
  Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom
  Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell.

And under him thus to divide were chosen
  Francis, and Benedict, and Augustine,
  And down to us the rest from round to round.

Behold now the high providence divine;
  For one and other aspect of the Faith
  In equal measure shall this garden fill.

And know that downward from that rank which cleaves
  Midway the sequence of the two divisions,
  Not by their proper merit are they seated;

But by another`s under fixed conditions;
  For these are spirits one and all assoiled
  Before they any true election had.

Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,
  And also in their voices puerile,
  If thou regard them well and hearken to them.

Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;
  But I will loosen for thee the strong bond
  In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.

Within the amplitude of this domain
  No casual point can possibly find place,
  No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;

For by eternal law has been established
  Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely
  The ring is fitted to the finger here.

And therefore are these people, festinate
  Unto true life, not `sine causa` here
  More and less excellent among themselves.

The King, by means of whom this realm reposes
  In so great love and in so great delight
  That no will ventureth to ask for more,

In his own joyous aspect every mind
  Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace
  Diversely; and let here the effect suffice.

And this is clearly and expressly noted
  For you in Holy Scripture, in those twins
  Who in their mother had their anger roused.

According to the colour of the hair,
  Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme
  Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.

Without, then, any merit of their deeds,
  Stationed are they in different gradations,
  Differing only in their first acuteness.

`Tis true that in the early centuries,
  With innocence, to work out their salvation
  Sufficient was the faith of parents only.

After the earlier ages were completed,
  Behoved it that the males by circumcision
  Unto their innocent wings should virtue add;

But after that the time of grace had come
  Without the baptism absolute of Christ,
  Such innocence below there was retained.

Look now into the face that unto Christ
  Hath most resemblance; for its brightness only
  Is able to prepare thee to see Christ."

On her did I behold so great a gladness
  Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds
  Created through that altitude to fly,

That whatsoever I had seen before
  Did not suspend me in such admiration,
  Nor show me such similitude of God.

And the same Love that first descended there,
  "Ave Maria, gratia plena," singing,
  In front of her his wings expanded wide.

Unto the canticle divine responded
  From every part the court beatified,
  So that each sight became serener for it.

"O holy father, who for me endurest
  To be below here, leaving the sweet place
  In which thou sittest by eternal lot,

Who is the Angel that with so much joy
  Into the eyes is looking of our Queen,
  Enamoured so that he seems made of fire?"

Thus I again recourse had to the teaching
  Of that one who delighted him in Mary
  As doth the star of morning in the sun.

And he to me: "Such gallantry and grace
  As there can be in Angel and in soul,
  All is in him; and thus we fain would have it;

Because he is the one who bore the palm
  Down unto Mary, when the Son of God
  To take our burden on himself decreed.

But now come onward with thine eyes, as I
  Speaking shall go, and note the great patricians
  Of this most just and merciful of empires.

Those two that sit above there most enrapture
  As being very near unto Augusta,
  Are as it were the two roots of this Rose.

He who upon the left is near her placed
  The father is, by whose audacious taste
  The human species so much bitter tastes.

Upon the right thou seest that ancient father
  Of Holy Church, into whose keeping Christ
  The keys committed of this lovely flower.

And he who all the evil days beheld,
  Before his death, of her the beauteous bride
  Who with the spear and with the nails was won,

Beside him sits, and by the other rests
  That leader under whom on manna lived
  The people ingrate, fickle, and stiff-necked.

Opposite Peter seest thou Anna seated,
  So well content to look upon her daughter,
  Her eyes she moves not while she sings Hosanna.

And opposite the eldest household father
  Lucia sits, she who thy Lady moved
  When to rush downward thou didst bend thy brows.

But since the moments of thy vision fly,
  Here will we make full stop, as a good tailor
  Who makes the gown according to his cloth,

And unto the first Love will turn our eyes,
  That looking upon Him thou penetrate
  As far as possible through his effulgence.

Truly, lest peradventure thou recede,
  Moving thy wings believing to advance,
  By prayer behoves it that grace be obtained;

Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee;
  And thou shalt follow me with thy affection
  That from my words thy heart turn not aside."

And he began this holy orison.


Paradiso: Canto XXXIII


"Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,
  Humble and high beyond all other creature,
  The limit fixed of the eternal counsel,

Thou art the one who such nobility
  To human nature gave, that its Creator
  Did not disdain to make himself its creature.

Within thy womb rekindled was the love,
  By heat of which in the eternal peace
  After such wise this flower has germinated.

Here unto us thou art a noonday torch
  Of charity, and below there among mortals
  Thou art the living fountain-head of hope.

Lady, thou art so great, and so prevailing,
  That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee,
  His aspirations without wings would fly.

Not only thy benignity gives succour
  To him who asketh it, but oftentimes
  Forerunneth of its own accord the asking.

In thee compassion is, in thee is pity,
  In thee magnificence; in thee unites
  Whate`er of goodness is in any creature.

Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth
  Of the universe as far as here has seen
  One after one the spiritual lives,

Supplicate thee through grace for so much power
  That with his eyes he may uplift himself
  Higher towards the uttermost salvation.

And I, who never burned for my own seeing
  More than I do for his, all of my prayers
  Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short,

That thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud
  Of his mortality so with thy prayers,
  That the Chief Pleasure be to him displayed.

Still farther do I pray thee, Queen, who canst
  Whate`er thou wilt, that sound thou mayst preserve
  After so great a vision his affections.

Let thy protection conquer human movements;
  See Beatrice and all the blessed ones
  My prayers to second clasp their hands to thee!"

The eyes beloved and revered of God,
  Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us
  How grateful unto her are prayers devout;

Then unto the Eternal Light they turned,
  On which it is not credible could be
  By any creature bent an eye so clear.

And I, who to the end of all desires
  Was now approaching, even as I ought
  The ardour of desire within me ended.

Bernard was beckoning unto me, and smiling,
  That I should upward look; but I already
  Was of my own accord such as he wished;

Because my sight, becoming purified,
  Was entering more and more into the ray
  Of the High Light which of itself is true.

From that time forward what I saw was greater
  Than our discourse, that to such vision yields,
  And yields the memory unto such excess.

Even as he is who seeth in a dream,
  And after dreaming the imprinted passion
  Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not,

Even such am I, for almost utterly
  Ceases my vision, and distilleth yet
  Within my heart the sweetness born of it;

Even thus the snow is in the sun unsealed,
  Even thus upon the wind in the light leaves
  Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost.

O Light Supreme, that dost so far uplift thee
  From the conceits of mortals, to my mind
  Of what thou didst appear re-lend a little,

And make my tongue of so great puissance,
  That but a single sparkle of thy glory
  It may bequeath unto the future people;

For by returning to my memory somewhat,
  And by a little sounding in these verses,
  More of thy victory shall be conceived!

I think the keenness of the living ray
  Which I endured would have bewildered me,
  If but mine eyes had been averted from it;

And I remember that I was more bold
  On this account to bear, so that I joined
  My aspect with the Glory Infinite.

O grace abundant, by which I presumed
  To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal,
  So that the seeing I consumed therein!

I saw that in its depth far down is lying
  Bound up with love together in one volume,
  What through the universe in leaves is scattered;

Substance, and accident, and their operations,
  All interfused together in such wise
  That what I speak of is one simple light.

The universal fashion of this knot
  Methinks I saw, since more abundantly
  In saying this I feel that I rejoice.

One moment is more lethargy to me,
  Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise
  That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo!

My mind in this wise wholly in suspense,
  Steadfast, immovable, attentive gazed,
  And evermore with gazing grew enkindled.

In presence of that light one such becomes,
  That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect
  It is impossible he e`er consent;

Because the good, which object is of will,
  Is gathered all in this, and out of it
  That is defective which is perfect there.

Shorter henceforward will my language fall
  Of what I yet remember, than an infant`s
  Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast.

Not because more than one unmingled semblance
  Was in the living light on which I looked,
  For it is always what it was before;

But through the sight, that fortified itself
  In me by looking, one appearance only
  To me was ever changing as I changed.

Within the deep and luminous subsistence
  Of the High Light appeared to me three circles,
  Of threefold colour and of one dimension,

And by the second seemed the first reflected
  As Iris is by Iris, and the third
  Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed.

O how all speech is feeble and falls short
  Of my conceit, and this to what I saw
  Is such, `tis not enough to call it little!

O Light Eterne, sole in thyself that dwellest,
  Sole knowest thyself, and, known unto thyself
  And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself!

That circulation, which being thus conceived
  Appeared in thee as a reflected light,
  When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes,

Within itself, of its own very colour
  Seemed to me painted with our effigy,
  Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein.

As the geometrician, who endeavours
  To square the circle, and discovers not,
  By taking thought, the principle he wants,

Even such was I at that new apparition;
  I wished to see how the image to the circle
  Conformed itself, and how it there finds place;

But my own wings were not enough for this,
  Had it not been that then my mind there smote
  A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.

Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
  But now was turning my desire and will,
  Even as a wheel that equally is moved,

The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.
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