| |
Translated by Henry Francis Cary Selections from “The Divine Comedy” Paradise: Canto XXXI.
IN fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then | |
| Before my view the saintly multitude, | |
| Which is his own blood Christ espoused. Meanwhile, | |
| That other host, that soar aloft to gaze | |
| And celebrate his glory, whom they love, | 5 |
| Hovered around; and, like a troop of bees, | |
| Amid the vernal sweets alighting now, | |
| Now, clustering, where their fragrant labor glows, | |
| Flew downward to the mighty flower, or rose | |
| From the redundant petals, streaming back | 10 |
| Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy. | |
| Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold: | |
| The rest was whiter than the driven snow; | |
| And, as they flitted down into the flower, | |
| From range to range, fanning their plumy loins, | 15 |
| Whispered the peace and ardor, which they won | |
| From that soft winnowing. Shadow none, the vast | |
| Interposition of such numerous flight | |
| Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view | |
| Obstructed aught. For, through the universe, | 20 |
| Wherever merited, celestial light | |
| Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents. | |
| All there, who reign in safety and in bliss, | |
| Ages long past or new, on one sole mark | |
| Their love and vision fixed. O trinal beam | 25 |
| Of individual star, that charm’st them thus! | |
| Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below. | |
| If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roamed | |
| (Where Helice forever, as she wheels, | |
| Sparkles a mother’s fondness on her son), | 30 |
| Stood in mute wonder mid the works of Rome, | |
| When to their view the Lateran arose | |
| In greatness more than earthly; I, who then | |
| From human to divine had passed, from time | |
| Unto eternity, and out of Florence | 35 |
| To justice and to truth, how might I chuse | |
| But marvel too? ’Twixt gladness and amaze, | |
| In sooth, no will had I to utter aught, | |
| Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests | |
| Within the temple of his vow, looks round | 40 |
| In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell | |
| Of all its goodly state; e’en so mine eyes | |
| Coursed up and down along the living light, | |
| Now low, and now aloft, and now around, | |
| Visiting every step. Looks I beheld, | 45 |
| Where charity in soft persuasion sat; | |
| Smiles from within, and radiance from above; | |
| And, in each gesture, grace and honor high. | |
| So roved my ken, and in its general form | |
| All Paradise surveyed. | 50 |
| |
