English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
| 1 | EVEN as a bird, ‘mid the beloved leaves, |
| 2 | Quiet upon the nest of her sweet brood |
| 3 | Throughout the night, that hideth all things from us, |
| 4 | Who, that she may behold their longed-for looks |
| 5 | And find the food wherewith to nourish them, |
| 6 | In which, to her, grave labours grateful are, |
| 7 | Anticipates the time on open spray |
| 8 | And with an ardent longing waits the sun, |
| 9 | Gazing intent as soon as breaks the dawn: |
| 10 | Even thus my Lady standing was, erect |
| 11 | And vigilant, turned round towards the zone |
| 12 | Underneath which the sun displays less haste; |
| 13 | So that beholding her distraught and wistful, |
| 14 | Such I became as he is who desiring |
| 15 | For something yearns, and hoping is appeased. |
| 16 | But brief the space from one When to the other; |
| 17 | Of my awaiting, say I, and the seeing |
| 18 | The welkin grow resplendent more and more. |
| 19 | And Beatrice exclaimed: Behold the hosts |
| 20 | Of Christ’s triumphal march, and all the fruit |
| 21 | Harvested by the rolling of these spheres! |
| 22 | It seemed to me her face was all aflame; |
| 23 | And eyes she had so full of ecstasy |
| 24 | That I must needs pass on without describing. |
| 25 | As when in nights serene of the full moon |
| 26 | Smiles Trivia among the nymphs eternal |
| 27 | Who paint the firmament through all its gulfs, |
| 28 | Saw I, above the myriads of lamps, |
| 29 | A Sun that one and all of them enkindled, |
| 30 | E’en as our own doth the supernal sights, |
| 31 | And through the living light transparent shone |
| 32 | ‘The lucent substance so intensely clear |
| 33 | Into my sight, that I sustained it not. |
| 34 | O Beatrice,thou gentle guide and dear! |
| 35 | To me she said: What overmasters thee |
| 36 | A virtue is from which naught shields itself |
| 37 | There are the wisdom and the omnipotence |
| 38 | That oped the thoroughfares ‘twixt heaven and earth, |
| 39 | For which there erst had been so long a yearning. |
| 40 | As fire from out a cloud unlocks itself, |
| 41 | Dilating so it finds not room therein, |
| 42 | And down, against its nature, falls to earth, |
| 43 | So did my mind, among those aliments |
| 44 | Becoming larger, issue from itself, |
| 45 | And that which it became cannot remember. |
| 46 | Open thine eyes, and look at what I am: |
| 47 | Thou hast beheld such things, that strong enough |
| 48 | Hast thou become to tolerate my smile. |
| 49 | I was as one who still retains the feeling |
| 50 | Of a forgotten vision, and endeavours |
| 51 | In vain to bring it back into his mind, |
| 52 | Then I this invitation heard, deserving |
| 53 | Of so much gratitude, it never fades |
| 54 | out of the book that chronicles the past. |
| 55 | If at this moment sounded all the tongues |
| 56 | I hat Polyhymnia and her sisters made |
| 57 | Most lubrical with their delicious milk, |
| 58 | To aid me, to a thousandth of the truth |
| 59 | It would not reach, singing the holy smile |
| 60 | And how the holy aspect it illumed. |
| 61 | And therefore, representing Paradise, |
| 62 | The sacred poem must perforce leap over, |
| 63 | Even as a man who finds his way cut off; |
| 64 | But whoso thinketh of the ponderous theme, |
| 65 | And of the mortal shoulder laden with it |
| 66 | Should blame it not, if under this it tremble. |
| 67 | It is no passage for a little boat |
| 68 | This which goes cleaving the audacious prow, |
| 69 | Nor for a pilot who would spare himself. |
| 70 | Why doth my face so much enamour thee, |
| 71 | That to the garden fair thou turnest not, |
| 72 | Which under the rays of Christ is blossoming? |
| 73 | There is the Rose in which the Word Divine |
| 74 | Became incarnate; there the lilies are |
| 75 | By whose perfume the good way was discovered. |
| 76 | Thus Beatrice; and I, who to her counsels |
| 77 | Was wholly ready, once again betook me |
| 78 | Unto the battle of the feeble brows. |
| 79 | As in the sunshine, that unsullied streams |
| 80 | Through fractured cloud, ere now a meadow of flowers |
| 81 | Mine eyes with shadow covered o’er have seen, |
| 82 | So troops of splendours manifold I saw |
| 83 | Illumined from above with burning rays, |
| 84 | Beholding not the source of the effulgence. |
| 85 | O power benignant that dost so imprint them! |
| 86 | Thou didst exalt thyself to give more scope |
| 87 | There to mine eyes, that were not strong enough. |
| 88 | The name of that fair flower I e’er invoke |
| 89 | Morning and evening utterly enthralled |
| 90 | My soul to gaze upon the greater fire. |
| 91 | And when in both mine eyes depicted were |
| 92 | The glory and greatness of the living star |
| 93 | Which there excelleth, as it here excelled, |
| 94 | Athwart the heavens a little torch descended |
| 95 | Formed in a circle like a coronal, |
| 96 | And cinctured it, and whirled itself about it. |
| 97 | Whatever melody most sweetly soundeth |
| 98 | On earth, and to itself most draws the soul, |
| 99 | Would seem a cloud that, rent asunder, thunders, |
| 100 | Compared unto the sounding of that Iyre |
| 101 | Wherewith was crowned the sapphire beautiful, |
| 102 | Which gives the clearest heaven its sapphire hue. |
| 103 | I am Angelic Love, that circle round |
| 104 | The joy sublime which breathes from out the womb |
| 105 | That was the hostelry of our Desire; |
| 106 | And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while |
| 107 | Thou followest thy Son, and mak’st diviner |
| 108 | The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there. |
| 109 | Thus did the circulated melody |
| 110 | Seal itself up; and all the other lights |
| 111 | Were making to resound the name of Mary. |
| 112 | The regal mantle of the volumes all |
| 113 | Of that world, which most fervid is and living |
| 114 | With breath of God and with his works and ways, |
| 115 | Extended over us its inner border, |
| 116 | So very distant, that the semblance of it |
| 117 | There where I was not yet appeared to me. |
| 118 | Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power |
| 119 | Of following the incoronated flame. |
| 120 | Which mounted upward near to its own seed. |
| 121 | And as a little child, that towards its mother |
| 122 | Stretches its arms, when it the milk has taken, |
| 123 | Through impulse kindled into outward flame, |
| 124 | Each of those gleams of whiteness upward reached |
| 125 | So with its summit, that the deep affection |
| 126 | They had for Mary was revealed to me. |
| 127 | Thereafter they remained there in my sight, |
| 128 | Regina coelisinging with such sweetness, |
| 129 | That ne’er from me has the delight departed. |
| 130 | O, what exuberance is garnered up |
| 131 | Within those richest coffers, which had been |
| 132 | Good husbandmen for sowing here below! |
| 133 | There they enjoy and live upon the treasure |
| 134 | Which was acquired while weeping in the exile |
| 135 | Of Babylon, wherein the gold was left. |
| 136 | There triumpheth, beneath the exalted Son |
| 137 | Of God and Mary, in his victory, |
| 138 | Both with the ancient council and the new, |
| 139 | He who doth keep the keys of such a glory. |