Paradiso: Canto XXVII

"To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," began
That Gloria, chanted by all Paradise,
And I was drunk with joy, so sweet it ran.

It was as though a smile did meet mine eyes
From all creation, so that joy's excess
Through sight and hearing did my mind surprise.

O bliss, O joy, no mortal may express!
O life filled full with love and peace, good store!
O riches, free from selfish eagerness!

Before mine eyes stood still the torches four,
All burning clear, and that which first came near
Began to grow yet brighter than before.

And such in look and fashion did appear
As Jupiter and Mars would be, if they
Were birds, and should each other's plumage wear.

That Providence which here on all doth lay
Appointed time and office, on their choir
Had laid commands awhile all song to stay;

And then I heard a voice, " No more admire
That thus so changed in hue thine eyes I meet,
For, as I speak, all these shall change attire.

He who on earth usurpeth now my seat,
My seat, my seat, I say, which to the eye
Of God's dear Son is vacant at His feet,

He of my burial-place hath made a stye
Of blood and filth, wherein the Evil One,
Who fell from Heaven, himself doth satisfy!"

And lo! the hue wherewith the opposing sun
Paints all the clouds at morning or at eve,
The heavens through all their wide extent had won;

And as a maiden pure and chaste doth grieve,
Sure of herself, to hear another's sin.
And e'en to hear it thrill of fear doth leave.

Thus Beatrice's face to change was seen:
So deem I in the passion of our King
Such dark eclipse veiled all the heaven serene.

Then further words he went on uttering,
With voice so altered as its accents rolled.
The change of look was not a stranger thing.

"Christ's Spouse was not with blood upreared of old,
My own, and that of Linus, Cletus too,
To serve but as a tool for gain of gold;

But to gain life, the joyful and the true,
Sixtus, Callistus, Pius, Urban,
Shed their own blood, and bitter weeping knew.

'Twas not our purpose that our heirs should call
Half Christ's flock to their right hand, while the left
Should to the other half as portion fall;

Nor that the keys which with me once were left
Should be the symbol of the flag of fight
Against a host of baptism not bereft;

Nor that I should, engraved on seal, give right
To venal and corrupt monopolies,
Which make me blush and kindle at the sight.

Fierce wolves in shepherds' garb, with greedy eyes,
Are seen from hence through all the meadows fair.
Vengeance of God, why dost thou not arise?

Gascons and Caorsines themselves prepare
To drink our life-blood. O beginning good,
To what vile issue hast thou fallen there!

But Foresight high, that Scipio endued
With strength to guard Rome's glorious majesty,
Will soon bring help: thus have I understood.

And thou, my son, whose path doth downward lie,
Still burdened with the flesh, ope thou thy lips,
And what I hide not, hide not thou." Then I,

E'en as the frozen vapour downward slips
In whirling flakes, what time the Goat in heaven.
To touch the sun, his horns in winter dips,

Beheld through all the expanse of ether driven,
But upwards, flakes of vapour full of joy.
That had to us awhile their presence given.

To track their semblance did mine eyes employ.
And they looked on, till space 'tween them and me
The power of passing farther did destroy.

And then my Lady, seeing me set free
From gazing on the heavens, said, " Downward turn
Thy glance, and where thy course hath wheeled thee, see."

Then, since I first had downward looked, I learn
That I had passed through all the quadrant wide
Within whose bounds the first clime we discern;

So that I saw, on Gades' farther side,
Ulysses' wild track, and on this the shore
Whence once Europa, burden dear, did ride.

And further had to me this little floor"
Of ours been open laid, but that the sun
Had gone beneath my feet a Sign or more.

My mind enamoured, ever dallying on
With that my Lady, more than ever sought
To bring back every look to her alone.

And if or art or nature e'er have wrought
Food for the eyes wherewith to take the mind,
In human flesh, or skill hath likeness caught,

All joined together I as naught should find.
Compared with that divine delight which glowed,
As to her smiling face I then inclined.

And the new power that this her look bestowed
Tore me away from Leda's pleasant nest.
And bore me to the swiftest heaven's abode.

Its parts, most full of life and loftiest,
Are all so uniform, I fail to tell
Where Beatrice chose that I should rest;

But she, to whom my wish was visible.
Began, with smile that of such gladness told
That God's own joy seemed in her face to dwell:

"The nature of that motion which doth hold
The centre still, while all the rest moves round,
Hence, as from starting-point, hath ever rolled;

And in this Heaven no other Where is found
But the one Mind of God, wherein doth glow
The Love that turns, the Power that doth abound.

Around it Love and Light encircling flow.
As it around the rest, and this bright sphere
He only knows Who it encircleth so.

Its motion hath no measure for its year"
In others, but from this the others start,
As ten by half and fifth is measured clear.

And how in such a vessel Time apart
Hath set its roots, its foliage in the rest.
Will now be clearer to thy searching heart.

O greed of gain, which mortals hast opprest
Beneath thy weight, that no one hath the power
To raise his eyes above thy billows' crest!

The will in men may put forth fairest flower,
But ever-dropping rain at last doth turn
The true plums into wildlings hard and sour.

In tender children only we discern
Or innocence or faith; then each doth flee.
Ere yet the down to clothe the cheeks doth learn.

One keeps his fasts in prattling infancy,
Then, with tongue loosed, will food devour apace.
In any month, of any quality.

Another, while he prattles, has the grace
To hear and love his mother; speech being clear,
He fain would see her in her burial-place.

So black becomes the skin, that did appear
At first so white to see, in that fair child
Of him who quits the eve and morn doth bear.

Thou, that thou wander not in wonder wild.
Reflect that earth has none to guide as king,
And so the race of man strays, all beguiled.

But ere that January pass to spring.
Through that small hundredth men neglect below
These higher spheres shall with loud bellowings ring;

The tempest fierce, that seemed to move so slow,"
Shall whirl the poops where now the prows we see.
So that the fleet shall on its right course go.

And, following on the flower, the true fruit be."