Paradiso: Canto XXXI

In fashion of a white rose glorified
Shone out on me that saintly chivalry,
Whom with His blood Christ won to be His bride;

But the other host, which, as it soars on high,
Surveys, and sings, the glory of its love,
The goodness, too, that gave it majesty, —

As swarm of bees that deep in flowerets move
One moment, and the next again return
To where their labour doth its sweetness prove, —

Dipped into that great flower which doth adorn
Itself with myriad leaves, then mounting, came
There where its love doth evermore sojourn.

Their faces had they all of living flame,
Their wings of gold, and all the rest was white,
That snow is none such purity could claim.

And to the flower from row to row their flight
They took, and bore to it the peace and glow.
Gained by them as they fanned their flanks aright.

Nor did the crowd then moving to and fro.
Between the flower and that which rose above,
Impede the sight or splendour of the show;

Seeing that the light of God doth freely move
Through the whole world, as merit makes it right.
So that nought there can hindrance to it prove.

This realm, secure and full of great delight,
Filled with the hosts of old or later time,
To one sole point turned love alike and sight.

O Trinal Light, that in one star sublime
Dost with thy rays their soul so satisfy.
Look down with pity on our storm-beat clime!

If strangers, bred beneath some far-off sky.
Where day by day revolves fair Helice,
With him, her son, in whom her joy doth lie,

Gazing on Rome and all her majesty.
Were struck with wonder, when the Lateran"
Was eminent above all things that be,

I, who to God had now passed on from man,
From time to that great sempiternal day.
From Florence to a people just and sane,—

Think what amazement then my soul did sway!
Truly with this and with the joy 'twas mine
To have no wish to hear, nor words to say.

And as a pilgrim who, with eager eyne,
Finds, gazing on a temple, full delight,
And hopes some day to tell how fair the shrine,

So, as I walked amid that living light.
On all around I also cast mine eye.
Now up, now down, and circling left or right.

Faces I saw that called forth charity;
Another's light and their own smiles shone there,
And gestures graced with every dignity.

That form of Paradise in outline fair
Already had my glance in full surveyed.
Not gazing yet with fixed glance anywhere;

And now I turned, with wish more ardent made,
To ask my Lady, as with doubt distrest.
Of many things which on my spirit weighed.

One thing I meant: another met my quest,
I looked for Beatrice, and behold
An old man, clothed as are the people blest.

His eyes and cheeks were flushed with joy untold,
Blended with look of mild benignity.
And pitying mien as of kind father old.

And where is she? " I asked full instantly.
Then he: " That wish of thine to satisfy
Thy Beatrice from my place sent me;

And if to that third round thou turn thine eye,
From the first rank, thou'lt see her yet once more.
Upon the throne her merits gained on high."

Without reply my look I upwards bore,
And saw that she with glory bright was crowned.
The eternal rays reflecting evermore,

Not from that sphere where highest thunders sound
Is mortal eye so far removed in space.
In whatsoever sea's deep waters drowned,

As was my sight from Beatrice's face.
Yet this was nought to me; her image fair
Came not through medium that could mar its grace.

"Lady, in whom my hope breathes quickening air,
And who for my salvation didst endure
To pass to Hell and leave thy footprints there.

Of all mine eyes have seen with vision pure.
As coming from thy goodness and thy might,
I the full grace and mercy know full sure.

Thou me, a slave, to freedom didst invite,
By all the means and all the methods whence
The power could spring to work such ends aright.

Still keep for me thy great munificence,
So that my soul, which owes its health to thee,
May please thee, free from each corporeal sense."

So prayed I, and in that her distance she.
When she had looked, with loving smile, again
Turned to the Fount that flows eternally.

Then spake the old man holy: "That thou gain
The wished-for goal of this thine enterprise,
To help in which me prayer and love constrain.

Around this garden fly thou with thine eyes;
For seeing it will make thy glance more keen
Further along the ray divine to rise.

Then she for whom I burn. Heaven's gracious Queen,
With fullest love, will every grace supply,
Because in me her faithful Bernard's seen."

As one who from Croatia, say, draws nigh
Upon our Veronica's face to glance,
Whom the old story does not satisfy,

Says, while he sees it, as in wondering trance,
"My Lord, my Jesus Christ, true Deity,
Was this indeed Thy very countenance?"

So was I, as I turned mine eyes to see
The living love of him who, while on earth,
Tasted this peace in contemplation free.

"Thou son of grace," then said he, " this glad mirth
In which we live will ne'er to thee be known
By fixing gaze on things of lower worth;

But to the circles most remote look on,"
Until thou see the Queen who rules on high,
Whom all this kingdom doth with homage own."

I raised mine eyes, and as the morning sky.
Where the horizon bounds the Eastern clime.
Excels the region where the sunbeams die,

So, as doth one who from the vale doth climb
To mountain height, I saw a space afar
All else surpassing in its light sublime.

And e'en as there, where we await the car
Which Phaethon drove badly, burns more clear
Its light, while this and that side dimmer are,

So did that peaceful oriflamme appear,
More living in its centre, and each side
In equal measure slackened flame did wear.

And at that centre, with their wings spread wide,
More than a thousand angels met my sight.
Joyous, in light and act diversified;

And in their songs and sports a beauty bright
I saw, whose smile makes glad, with fullest joy.
The eyes of all the other saints in light.

And could I in my speech such wealth employ
As in my fancy's flight, I should not dare
To touch the edge of bliss without alloy.

And Bernard, when he saw that I stood there
With eyes fixed fast upon that glowing blaze,
Turned his to her with love so rich and rare

That mine more eager made thereon to gaze.