English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
| 1 | As much as ‘twixt the close of the third hour |
| 2 | And dawn of day appeareth of that sphere |
| 3 | Which aye in fashion of a child is playing, |
| 4 | So much it now appeared, towards the night, |
| 5 | Was of his course remaining to the sun; |
| 6 | There it was evening, and ’twas midnight here; |
| 7 | And the rays smote the middle of our faces, |
| 8 | Because by us the mount was so encircled, |
| 9 | That straight towards the west we now were going |
| 10 | When I perceived my forehead overpowered |
| 11 | Beneath the splendour far more than at first, |
| 12 | And stupor were to me the things unknown, |
| 13 | Whereat towards the summit of my brow |
| 14 | I raised my hands, and made myself the visor |
| 15 | Which the excessive glare diminishes. |
| 16 | As when from off the water, or a mirror, |
| 17 | The sunbeam leaps unto the opposite side, |
| 18 | Ascending upward in the selfsame measure |
| 19 | That it descends, and deviates as far |
| 20 | From falling of a stone in line direct, |
| 21 | (As demonstrate experiment and art,) |
| 22 | So it appeared to me that by a light |
| 23 | Refracted there before me I was smitten; |
| 24 | On which account my sight was swift to flee. |
| 25 | What is that, Father sweet, from which I cannot |
| 26 | So fully screen my sight that it avail me, |
| 27 | Said I, and seems towards us to be moving? |
| 28 | Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet |
| 29 | The family of heaven,he answered me; |
| 30 | An angel ’tis, who comes to invite us upward. |
| 31 | Soon will it be, that to behold these things |
| 32 | Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee |
| 33 | As much as nature fashioned thee to feel. |
| 34 | When we had reached the Angel benedight, |
| 35 | With joyful voice he said: Here enter in |
| 36 | To stairway far less steep than are the others. |
| 37 | We mounting were, already thence departed, |
| 38 | And Beati misericordes was |
| 39 | Behind us sung, Rejoice, thou that o’ercomest! |
| 40 | My Master and myself, we two alone |
| 41 | Were going upward, and I thought, in going, |
| 42 | Some profit to acquire from words of his; |
| 43 | And I to him directed me, thus asking: |
| 44 | What did the spirit of Romagna mean, |
| 45 | Mentioning interdict and partnership? |
| 46 | Whence he to me: Of his own greatest failing |
| 47 | He knows the harm; and therefore wonder not |
| 48 | If he reprove us, that we less may rue it |
| 49 | Because are thither pointed your desires |
| 50 | Where by companionship each share is lessened, |
| 51 | Envy doth ply the bellows to your sighs. |
| 52 | But if the love of the supernal sphere |
| 53 | Should upwardly direct your aspiration, |
| 54 | There would not be that fear within your breast; |
| 55 | For there, as much the more as one says Our, |
| 56 | So much the more of good each one possesses, |
| 57 | And more of charity in that cloister burns. |
| 58 | I am more hungering to be satisfied, |
| 59 | I said, than if I had before been silent, |
| 60 | And more of doubt within my mind I gather. |
| 61 | How can it be, that boon distributed |
| 62 | The more possessors can more wealthy make |
| 63 | Therein, than if by few it be possessed? |
| 64 | And he to me: Because thou fixest still |
| 65 | Thy mind entirely upon earthly things, |
| 66 | Thou pluckest darkness from the very light. |
| 67 | That goodness infinite and ineffable |
| 68 | Which is above there, runneth unto love, |
| 69 | As to a lucid body comes the sunbeam. |
| 70 | So much it gives itself as it finds ardour, |
| 71 | So that as far as charity extends, |
| 72 | O’er it increases the eternal valour. |
| 73 | And the more people thitherward aspire, |
| 74 | More are there to love well, and more they love there, |
| 75 | And, as a mirror, one reflects the other. |
| 76 | And if my reasoning appease thee not, |
| 77 | Thou shalt see Beatrice; and she will fully |
| 78 | Take from thee this and every other longing. |
| 79 | Endeavour, then, that soon may be extinct, |
| 80 | As are the two already, the five wounds |
| 81 | That close themselves again by being painful. |
| 82 | Even as I wished to say,Thou dost appease me, |
| 83 | I saw that I had reached another circle, |
| 84 | So that my eager eyes made me keep silence. |
| 85 | There it appeared to me that in a vision |
| 86 | Ecstatic on a sudden I was rapt, |
| 87 | And in a temple many persons saw; |
| 88 | And at the door a woman, with the sweet |
| 89 | Behaviour of a mother, saying: Son, |
| 90 | Why in this manner hast thou dealt with us? |
| 91 | Lo, sorrowing, thy father and myself |
| 92 | Were seeking for thee ;–and as here she cease |
| 93 | That which appeared at first had disappeared. |
| 94 | Then I beheld another with those waters |
| 95 | Adown her cheeks which grief distils whenever |
| 96 | From great disdain of others it is born, |
| 97 | And saying: If of that city thou art lord, |
| 98 | For whose name was such strife among the gods |
| 99 | And whence doth every science scintillate, |
| 100 | Avenge thyself on those audacious arms |
| 101 | That clasped our daughter,O Pisistratus, |
| 102 | And the lord seemed to me benign and mild |
| 103 | To answer her with aspect temperate: |
| 104 | What shall we do to those who wish us ill, |
| 105 | If he who loves us be by us condemned? |
| 106 | Then saw I people hot in fire of wrath, |
| 107 | With stones a young man slaying, clamorously |
| 108 | Still crying to each other, Kill him ! kill him! |
| 109 | And him I saw bow down, because of death |
| 110 | That weighed already on him, to the earth, |
| 111 | But of his eyes made ever gates to heaven, |
| 112 | Imploring the high Lord, in so great strife, |
| 113 | That he would pardon those his persecutors, |
| 114 | With such an aspect as unlocks compassion. |
| 115 | Soon as my soul had outwardly returned |
| 116 | To things external to it which are true, |
| 117 | Did I my not false errors recognize. |
| 118 | My Leader, who could see me bear myself |
| 119 | Like to a man that rouses him from sleep, |
| 120 | Exclaimed: What ails thee, that thou canst not stand? |
| 121 | But hast been coming more than half a league |
| 122 | Veiling thine eyes, and with thy legs entangled |
| 123 | In guise of one whom wine or sleep subdues?’ |
| 124 | O my sweet Father, if thou listen to me, |
| 125 | I’ll tell thee, said I, what appeared to me, |
| 126 | When thus from me my legs were ta’en away. |
| 127 | And he: If thou shouldst have a hundred masks |
| 128 | Upon thy face, from me would not be shut |
| 129 | Thy cogitations, howsoever small. |
| 130 | What thou hast seen was that thou mayst not fail |
| 131 | To ope thy heart unto the waters of peace |
| 132 | Which from the eternal fountain are diffused. |
| 133 | I did not ask, ‘What ails thee?’ as he does |
| 134 | Who only looketh with the eyes that see not |
| 135 | When of the soul bereft the body lies, |
| 136 | But asked it to give vigour to thy feet; |
| 137 | Thus must we needs urge on the sluggards, slow |
| 138 | To use their wakefulness when it returns. |
| 139 | We passed along, athwart the twilight peering |
| 140 | Forward as far as ever eye could stretch |
| 141 | Against the sunbeams serotine and lucent; |
| 142 | And lo ! by slow degrees a smoke approached |
| 143 | In our direction, sombre as the night, |
| 144 | Nor was there place to hide one’s self therefrom. |
| 145 | This of our eyes and the pure air bereft us. |