Canto XXV
Canto XXV
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | IF e'er it happen that the Poem Sacred, |
| 2 | To which both heaven and earth have set their hand, |
| 3 | So that it many a year hath made me lean, |
| 4 | O'ercome the cruelty that bars me out |
| 5 | From the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered |
| 6 | An enemy to the wolves that war upon it, |
| 7 | With other voice forthwith, with other fleece |
| 8 | Poet will I return, and at my font |
| 9 | Baptismal will I take the laurel crown; |
| 10 | Because into the Faith that maketh known |
| 11 | All souls to God there entered I, and then |
| 12 | Peter for her sake thus my brow encircled. |
| 13 | Thereafterward towards us moved a light |
| 14 | Out of that band whence issued the first-fruits |
| 15 | Which of his vicars Christ behind him left, |
| 16 | And then my Lady, full of ecstasy, |
| 17 | Said unto me: Look, look ! behold the Baron |
| 18 | For whom below Galicia is frequented. |
| 19 | In the same way as, when a dove alights |
| 20 | Near his companion, both of them pour forth, |
| 21 | Circling about and murmuring, their affection, |
| 22 | So one beheld I by the other grand |
| 23 | Prince glorified to be with welcome greeted, |
| 24 | Lauding the food that there above is eaten. |
| 25 | But when their gratulations were complete, |
| 26 | Silently coram one each one stood still, |
| 27 | So incandescent it o'ercame my sight. |
| 28 | Smiling thereafterwards, said Beatrice: |
| 29 | Illustrious life, by whom the benefactions |
| 30 | Of our Basilica have been described, |
| 31 | Make Hope resound within this altitude; |
| 32 | Thou knowest as oft thou dost personify it |
| 33 | As Jesus to the three gave greater clearness.-- |
| 34 | Lift up thy head, and make thyself assured; |
| 35 | For what comes hither from the mortal world |
| 36 | Must needs be ripened in our radiance. |
| 37 | This comfort came to me from the second fire; |
| 38 | Wherefore mine eyes I lifted to the hills, |
| 39 | Which bent them down before with too great weight. |
| 40 | Since, through his grace, our Emperor wills that thou |
| 41 | Shouldst find thee face to face, before thy death, |
| 42 | In the most secret chamber, with his Counts, |
| 43 | So that, the truth beholden of this court, |
| 44 | Hope, which below there rightfully enamours, |
| 45 | Thereby thou strengthen in thyself and others, |
| 46 | Say what it is, and how is flowering with it |
| 47 | Thy mind, and say from whence it came to thee. |
| 48 | Thus did the second light again continue. |
| 49 | And the Compassionate, who piloted |
| 50 | The plumage of my wings in such high flight, |
| 51 | Did in reply anticipate me thus: |
| 52 | No child whatever the Church Militant |
| 53 | Of greater hope possesses, as is written |
| 54 | In that Sun which irradiates all our band; |
| 55 | Therefore it is conceded him from Egypt |
| 56 | To come into Jerusalem to see, |
| 57 | Or ever yet his warfare be completed. |
| 58 | The two remaining points, that not for knowledge |
| 59 | Have been demanded, but that he report |
| 60 | How much this virtue unto thee is pleasing, |
| 61 | To him I leave; for hard he will not find them, |
| 62 | Nor of self-praise; and let him answer them; |
| 63 | And may the grace of God in this assist him! |
| 64 | As a disciple, who his teacher follows, |
| 65 | Ready and willing, where he is expert, |
| 66 | That his proficiency may be displayed, |
| 67 | Hope, said I, is the certain expectation |
| 68 | Of future glory, which is the effect |
| 69 | Of grace divine and merit precedent. |
| 70 | From many stars this light comes unto me; |
| 71 | But he instilled it first into my heart |
| 72 | Who was chief singer unto the chief captain. |
| 73 | 'Sperent in te,' in the high Theody |
| 74 | He sayeth, ' those who know thy name;'and who |
| 75 | Knoweth it not, if he my faith possess? |
| 76 | Thou didst instil me, then, with his instilling |
| 77 | In the Epistle, so that I am full, |
| 78 | And upon others rain again your rain. |
| 79 | While I was speaking, in the living bosom |
| 80 | Of that combustion quivered an efflugence, |
| 81 | Sudden and frequent, in the guise of lightning; |
| 82 | Then breathed: The love wherewith I am inflamed |
| 83 | Towards the virtue still which followed me |
| 84 | Unto the palm and issue of the field. |
| 85 | Wills that I breathe to thee that thou delight |
| 86 | In her; and grateful to me is thy telling |
| 87 | Whatever things Hope promises to thee. |
| 88 | And I: The ancient Scriptures and the new |
| 89 | The mark establish, and this shows it me, |
| 90 | Of all the souls whom God hath made his friends. |
| 91 | Isaiah saith, that each one garmented |
| 92 | In his own land shall be with twofold garments |
| 93 | And his own land is this delightful life. |
| 94 | Thy brother, too, far more explicitly, |
| 95 | There where he treateth of the robes of white, |
| 96 | This revelation manifests to us. |
| 97 | And first, and near the ending of these words, |
| 98 | Sperent in te from over us was heard, |
| 99 | To which responsive answered all the carols. |
| 100 | Thereafterward a light among them brightened, |
| 101 | So that, if Cancer one such crystal had, |
| 102 | Winter would have a month of one sole day. |
| 103 | And as uprises, goes, and enters the dance |
| 104 | A winsome maiden, only to do honour |
| 105 | To the new bride, and not from any failing, |
| 106 | Even thus did I behold the brightened splendour |
| 107 | Approach the two, who in a wheel revolved |
| 108 | As was beseeming to their ardent love. |
| 109 | Into the song and music there it entered; |
| 110 | And fixed on them my Lady kept her look, |
| 111 | Even as a bride silent and motionless. |
| 112 | This is the one who lay upon the breast |
| 113 | Of him our Pelican; and this is he |
| 114 | To the great office from the cross elected. |
| 115 | My Lady thus; but therefore none the more |
| 116 | Did move her sight from its attentive gaze |
| 117 | Before or afterward these words of hers. |
| 118 | Even as a man who gazes, and endeavours |
| 119 | To see the eclipsing of the sun a little, |
| 120 | And who, by seeing, sightless doth become, |
| 121 | So I became before that latest fire, |
| 122 | While it was said, Why dost thou daze thyself |
| 123 | To see a thing which here hath no existence? |
| 124 | Earth in the earth my body is, and shall be |
| 125 | With all the others there, until our number |
| 126 | With the eternal proposition tallies. |
| 127 | With the two garments in the blessed cloister |
| 128 | Are the two lights alone that have ascended: |
| 129 | And this shalt thou take back into your world. |
| 130 | And at this utterance the flaming circle |
| 131 | Grew quiet, with the dulcet intermingling |
| 132 | Of sound that by the trinal breath was made, |
| 133 | As to escape from danger or fatigue |
| 134 | The oars that erst were in the water beaten |
| 135 | Are all suspended at a whistle's sound. |
| 136 | Ah, how much in my mind was I disturbed, |
| 137 | When I turned round to look on Beatrice, |
| 138 | That her I could not see, although I was |
| 139 | Close at her side and in the Happy World! |