I LIFT mine eyes, and all the windows blaze With forms of saints and holy men who died, And the great Rose upon its leaves displays With splendor upon splendor multiplied; No more rebukes, but smiles her words of praise. And the melodious bells among the spires O'er all the house-tops and through heaven above O star of morning and of liberty! O bringer of the light, whose splendor shines The voices of the city and the sea, The voices of the mountains and the pines, In their own language hear thy wondrous word, PARADISO. CANTO I. THE glory of Him who moveth everything Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends; Because in drawing near to its desire Our intellect ingulphs itself so far, Truly whatever of the holy realm I had the power to treasure in my mind Shall now become the subject of my song. O good Apollo, for this last emprise Make of me such a vessel of thy power As giving the beloved laurel asks ! One summit of Parnassus hitherto Has been enough for me, but now with both Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw So that the shadow of the blessed realm Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree, And crown myself thereafter with those leaves Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy. So seldom, Father, do we gather them For triumph or of Cæsar or of Poet, (The fault and shame of human inclinations,) 5 ΤΟ 15 20 25 That the Peneian foliage should bring forth When any one it makes to thirst for it. Perchance with better voices after me Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond! To mortal men by passages diverse Uprises the world's lamp; but by that one Which circles four uniteth with three crosses, With better course and with a better star Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion. Almost that passage had made morning there And evening here, and there was wholly white I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun; And even as a second ray is wont To issue from the first and reascend, Like to a pilgrim who would fain return, Thus of her action, through the eyes infused In my imagination, mine I made, And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont. There much is lawful which is here unlawful Unto our powers, by virtue of the place Made for the human species as its own. Not long I bore it, nor so little while But I beheld it sparkle round about And suddenly it seemed that day to day Was added, as if He who has the power Had with another sun the heaven adorned. With eyes upon the everlasting wheels Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her Fixing my vision from above removed, Such at her aspect inwardly became As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him To represent transhumanise in words Impossible were; the example, then, suffice If I was merely what of me thou newly Createdst, Love who governest the heaven, Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light! 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal By harmony thou dost modulate and measure, By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off. Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest ; But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site, If of my former doubt I was divested By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, And said: "Already did I rest content From great amazement; but am now amazed Her eyes directed tow'rds me with that look Have order among themselves, and this is form, In the order that I speak of are inclined All natures, by their destinies diverse, More or less near unto their origin; Hence they move onward unto ports diverse O'er the great sea of being; and each one With instinct given it which bears it on. This bears away the fire towards the moon ; This is in mortal hearts the motive power Without intelligence this bow shoots forth, |