Like a bird among beloved leaves,
quiet on the nest of her sweet brood
throughout the night that hides all things from us—
who, longing to see their cherished faces
and find the food to nourish them
(in which grave labors become her joy),
anticipates the dawn on open branch
and waits for sun with burning desire,
gazing intently as the first light breaks—
9
So my Lady stood, erect and watchful,
turned toward that zone beneath which
the sun displays its slower course.
Seeing her so rapt and yearning,
I became like one who desires something,
yearning and hoping to be satisfied.
15
But brief was the time between
my waiting and my seeing
the heavens grow more radiant.
And Beatrice cried out: "Behold
the hosts of Christ's triumph,
all the fruit gathered by these turning spheres!"
21
Her face seemed all aflame to me,
her eyes so full of ecstasy
that I must pass on without describing them.
As when in clear nights of the full moon
Trivia smiles among eternal nymphs
who paint the sky through all its depths,
I saw above countless lamps
a Sun that kindled every one,
just as our sun lights the stars above.
30
Through that living light there shone
a substance so intensely bright,
so clear into my sight,
that I could not endure it.
34
"O Beatrice, gentle and dear guide!"
She said to me: "What overwhelms you
is a power from which nothing shields itself.
Here are the wisdom and the might
that opened pathways between heaven and earth,
for which there had been such long yearning."
40
Like fire bursting from a cloud,
expanding till it finds no room within,
and falls to earth against its nature,
so my mind, growing large among those feasts,
issued from itself,
and what it became I cannot remember.
46
"Open your eyes and see what I am:
you have witnessed such things
that you are strong enough now
to bear my smile."
50
I was like one who still feels
the trace of a forgotten vision,
striving in vain to bring it back,
when I heard this invitation—
so worthy of gratitude
that it never fades from memory's book.
56
If all the tongues that Polyhymnia
and her sisters made most eloquent
with their sweet milk sounded now
to help me, they would not reach
a thousandth of the truth
in singing of that holy smile
and how it lit her sacred face.
63
Therefore this sacred poem must leap over,
representing Paradise
like a man who finds his way blocked.
But whoever thinks of the weighty theme
and mortal shoulder bearing it
should not blame if it trembles beneath.
This passage is not for a small boat
cleaving with bold prow,
nor for a pilot who would spare himself.
72
"Why does my face so enchant you
that you do not turn to the fair garden
that blossoms under Christ's rays?
There is the Rose in which
the Divine Word became flesh;
there are the lilies by whose fragrance
the good path was found."
79
So Beatrice spoke, and I,
wholly ready for her counsel,
committed myself again
to the battle of my weak sight.
83
As sunlight streaming pure
through broken cloud has shown me
meadows of flowers covered in shadow,
so I saw manifold troops of splendor
lit from above by burning rays,
yet could not see the source of light.
89
O benevolent power that marks them so!
You lifted yourself to give more scope
to my eyes that were not strong enough.
The name of that fair flower
I invoke morning and evening
utterly enthralled my soul
to gaze upon the greater fire.
96
When both my eyes held the image
of the glory and greatness
of the living star that excels there
as it excelled here below,
a little torch descended through the heavens,
formed in a circle like a crown,
and girdled it and whirled about it.
103
Whatever melody sounds sweetest on earth
and most draws the soul to itself
would seem like thundering cloud
compared to the sounding of that lyre
which crowned the beautiful sapphire
that gives the brightest heaven its blue.
109
"I am Angelic Love that circles round
the sublime joy breathing from the womb
that was the dwelling of our Desire.
And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven,
while you follow your Son
and make the highest sphere more divine
because you enter there."
116
Thus that circling melody
sealed itself, and all other lights
resounded with the name of Mary.
The royal mantle of all the spheres
of that world most fervent and alive
with God's breath and works and ways
extended over us its inner border,
so distant that its appearance
did not yet reach where I stood.
125
Therefore my eyes had no power
to follow the crowned flame
that rose toward its own source.
And like a little child that stretches
its arms toward its mother
after it has taken milk,
through love kindled into outward flame,
each of those white gleams reached upward
with its peak, so that their deep love
for Mary was revealed to me.
135
Then they remained there in my sight,
singing "Regina coeli" with such sweetness
that the delight has never left me.
O what abundance is stored up
in those richest treasuries
that were good farmers for sowing below!
There they rejoice and live upon the treasure
acquired while weeping in the exile
of Babylon, where the gold was abandoned.
144
There triumphs, beneath the exalted Son
of God and Mary, in his victory,
with both the old and new councils,
he who holds the keys to such glory.
148