Paradiso (25 page)

               
Then he added: ‘Son, these are the glosses   
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on what was told you, these are the snares

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that lurk behind a few revolving years.

               
‘Yet I would not have you feel envious disdain   
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for your fellow-townsmen, since your life shall far outlast

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the punishment of their treachery.’

               
After the holy soul, by falling silent,   
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showed that he had done with putting the woof

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into the web for which I had set the warp,

               
I began, like a man in doubt,   
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but one filled with great desire for advice

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from someone of clear sight, right will, and love:

               
‘I can see, father, that time is spurring toward me   
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to deal me such a blow as falls most heavily

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on one proceeding heedless on his way.   
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‘Thus it is good I arm myself with forethought   
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so that, if my belovèd town is torn from me,

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I may not lose still others through my songs.   
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‘Down through the world of endless bitterness,   
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and upward on the mountain from whose lovely peak

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my lady raised me with her eyes,

               
‘and after, rising through the heavens, light to light,

               
I have learned things that, should I retell them,

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would discomfort many with their bitter taste.

               
‘Yet, should I be a timid friend to truth,   
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I fear that I shall not live on for those   
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to whom our times will be the ancient days.’

               
The light, in which the treasure that I found there   
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had been smiling, now became resplendent

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as a mirror, golden in the sun,

               
and then made this reply: ‘A conscience dark,   
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whether with its own or with a kinsman’s shame,

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is sure to feel your words are harsh.

               
‘Nonetheless, forswear all falsehood,   
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revealing all that you have seen,

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and then let him who itches scratch.

               
‘For, if your voice is bitter at first taste,   
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it will later furnish vital nourishment

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once it has been swallowed and digested.

               
‘This cry of yours shall do as does the wind   
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that strikes the highest peaks with greater force—

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this loftiness itself no little sign of honor.

               
‘That is why you have been shown, within these wheels,

               
upon the mountain, and in the woeful valley,

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those souls alone that are well known to fame,

               
‘since the mind of one who listens will not heed   
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nor fix its faith on an example

               
that has its roots in things unknown or hidden

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or on some other proof not clearly shown.’   
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That blessèd mirror continued to rejoice   
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in his own thoughts and I was tasting mine,

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tempering the bitter with the sweet,   
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when that lady, who was leading me to God,

               
said: ‘Change your thoughts. Consider that I dwell   
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with Him who lifts the weight of every wrong.’

               
At the loving sound of my comfort’s voice   
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I turned, and the great love I saw then,   
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in her holy eyes, I have to leave untold,

               
not just because I cannot trust my speech,

               
but because memory cannot retrace its path

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that far unless Another guide it.

               
This much only of that moment can I tell again,

               
that, when I fixed my gaze on her,

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my affections were released from any other longing

               
as long as the eternal Beauty,   
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shining its light on Beatrice, made me content

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with its reflected glow in her fair eyes.

               
Conquering me with her radiant smile,   
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she said: ‘Turn now and listen:

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not in my eyes alone is Paradise.’

               
As, on occasion, here on earth, affection   
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may be read in someone’s face

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if it is strong enough to capture all the soul,

               
so, in the flaming of that holy radiance

               
to which I turned, I recognized his wish

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to share some further thoughts with me.

               
And he began: ‘On this fifth tier of the branches   
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of the tree that draws its sustenance from above   
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and always is in fruit and never sheds its leaves

               
‘are blessèd spirits who below, on earth,   
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before they rose to Heaven, were of such renown

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that any poet’s page would be enriched by them.   
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‘Look, therefore, at the two arms of the cross,   
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and each one whom I name will, flashing, dart

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as does swift fire from within a cloud.’   
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I saw a streak of light drawn through the cross   
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at Joshua’s name as soon as it was spoken,   
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nor could I tell the naming and the deed apart.   
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And, at the name of valorous Maccabaeus,   
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I saw shoot by another whirling light—

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and it was joy that whipped that spinning top.   
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My watchful gaze was fastened   
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on Charlemagne and Roland there, as well,

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just as the eye pursues the falcon in its flight.

               
William, Renouard, and then Duke Godfrey   
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next drew my eyes along that cross,   
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and Robert Guiscard also did so.   
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Then, leaving me to mingle with the other lights,   
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the soul who’d spoken last with me displayed

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his artistry among the singers of that heaven.   
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I turned to my right to learn   
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from Beatrice what I ought to do,

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whether signaled by some word or gesture,