Paradiso (5 page)
Authors: Dante
when I saw that Beatrice had turned toward her left
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and now was staring at the sun—
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never had eagle so fixed his gaze on it.
And, as a second ray will issue from the first
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and rise again up to its source,
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even as a pilgrim longs to go back home,
so her gaze, pouring through my eyes
on my imagination, made itself my own, and I,
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against our practice, set my eyes upon the sun.
Much that our powers here cannot sustain is there
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allowed by virtue of the nature of the place
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created as the dwelling fit for man.
I could not bear it long, yet not so brief a time
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as not to see it sparking everywhere,
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like liquid iron flowing from the fire.
Suddenly it seemed a day was added to that day,
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as if the One who has the power
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had adorned the heavens with a second sun.
Beatrice had fixed her eyes
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upon the eternal wheels and I now fixed
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my sight on her, withdrawing it from above.
As I gazed on her, I was changed within,
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as Glaucus was on tasting of the grass
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that made him consort of the gods in the sea.
To soar beyond the human cannot be described
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in words. Let the example be enough to one
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for whom grace holds this experience in store.
Whether I was there in that part only which you
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created last is known to you alone, O Love who rule
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When the heavens you made eternal,
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wheeling in desire, caught my attention
then so much of the sky seemed set on fire
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by the flaming sun that neither rain nor river
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ever fed a lake so vast.
The newness of the sound and the bright light
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lit in me such keen desire to know their cause
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as I had never with such sharpness felt before.
And she, who knew me as I knew myself,
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to calm my agitated mind
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before I even had begun to speak, parted her lips
and said: ‘You make yourself dull-witted
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with false notions, so that you cannot see
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what you would understand, had you but cast them off.
‘You are not still on earth, as you believe.
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Indeed, lightning darting from its source
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never sped as fast as you return to yours.’
and said: ‘I was content to be released
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from my amazement, but now I am amazed
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that I can glide through these light bodies.’
Then she, having sighed with pity,
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bent her eyes on me with just that look
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a mother casts on her delirious child,
and said: ‘All things created have an order
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in themselves, and this begets the form
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that lets the universe resemble God.
‘Here the higher creatures see the imprint
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of the eternal Worth, the end
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for which that pattern was itself set forth.
‘In that order, all natures have their bent
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according to their different destinies,
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whether nearer to their source or farther from it.
‘They move, therefore, toward different harbors
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upon the vastness of the sea of being,
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each imbued with an instinct that impels it on its course.
‘This instinct carries fire toward the moon,
this is the moving force in mortal hearts,
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this binds the earth to earth and makes it one.
‘This bow impels not just created things
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that lack intelligence, but also those
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that have both intellect and love.
‘Providence, which regulates all this,
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makes with its light forever calm the heaven
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that contains the one that whirls with greatest speed,
‘and there now, as to a place appointed,
the power of that bowstring bears us,
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aimed, as is all it shoots, at a joyful target.
‘It is true that as a work will often fail
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to correspond to its intended form, its matter
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deaf and unresponsive to the craftsman’s plan,
‘so sometimes a creature, having the capacity
to swerve, will, thus impelled, head off another way,
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in deviation from the better course
‘and, just as sometimes we see fire
falling from a cloud, just so the primal impulse,
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diverted by false pleasure, turns toward earth.
‘If I am correct, you should no more wonder
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at your rising than at a stream’s descent
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from a mountain’s peak down to its foot.
‘It would be as astounding if you, set free
from every hindrance, had remained below,
as if on earth a living flame held still.’
MOON
Paradiso
you
may follow
Jason
you
think of this problem
distinguishing marks for them, no other power would mark them;
turn back if you would see your shores again.
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Do not set forth upon the deep,
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for, losing sight of me, you would be lost.
You other few who craned your necks in time
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to reach for angels’ bread, which gives us life on earth,
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