Paradiso (17 page)

               
while I, set free from all these things,   
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was, high in heaven with Beatrice,

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thus gloriously received.

               
When each flame had returned to the same point   
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on the circle where it had stood before,

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it stopped, like a candle on its sconce,

               
and now the light that had already spoken

               
from deep within began again to speak,

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smiling and shining still more bright:

               
‘Even as I reflect its radiant beams, so,   
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gazing into the Eternal Light, I grasp

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your thoughts and the source of their beginnings.

               
‘You are in doubt and would have me restate   
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my words, to make them clear and plain,

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matching the level of your understanding,

               
‘as when I said, “Where sheep are fattened,”

               
as well as, “Nor was there ever born another.”

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And here one needs to make a clear distinction.

               
‘The providence that rules the world   
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with such deep wisdom that any God-created eye

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must fail before it reaches to the very depth—

               
‘so that the bride of Him who, crying out

               
in a loud voice, espoused her with His sacred blood,

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should go in joy to her belovèd

               
‘sure of herself and now to Him more faithful—   
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ordained in her behalf two princes,

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one on this side, one on that, to serve as guides.

               
‘One was all seraphic in his ardor,   
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the other, by his wisdom, was on earth

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resplendent with cherubic light.

               
‘I shall speak of one, since praising one,

               
whichever one we choose, is to speak of both,

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for they labored to a single end.

               
‘Between the Topino and the waters that descend   
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down from the hilltop chosen by the blessèd Ubaldo   
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there hangs a fertile slope from one high peak

               
‘that makes Perugia feel both heat and cold

               
at Porta Sole, while behind its other flank   
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Gualdo and Nocera mourn their heavy yoke.   
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‘From this slope, where it interrupts

               
its steep descent, a sun rose on the world,

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as from the Ganges our sun sometimes does.   
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‘Therefore, let anyone who would speak of this place

               
not say
Ascesi
, which would convey too little,   
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but call it
Orient
, to sound its proper worth.

               
‘Not much time as yet had passed   
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when he first lent his comfort to the earth   
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by the greatness of his virtuous power.

               
‘For, still a youth, he fought against his father’s wish   
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for the favor of a lady to whom, as to death,

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no one unlocks the door with gladness,   
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‘and before his spiritual court
et coram patre
   
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he joined himself to her and, from then on,

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each passing day, he loved her more.

               
‘She, bereft of her first husband, scorned and unknown   
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one thousand and one hundred years and more,

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remained without a suitor till he came.

               
‘Nor did it profit her when men heard that she stood   
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unmoved, with Amyclas, despite the voice

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of him who put the whole wide world in fear.

               
‘Nor did it profit her when, being fiercely loyal   
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and undaunted, while Mary stayed below,

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she wept with Christ upon the cross.   
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‘But, lest I make my meaning dark,   
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let it be understood, in all that I have said,   
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that these two lovers are Francis and Poverty.

               
‘Their happy countenances and their harmony,   
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their love and wonder and sweet contemplation   
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made them a cause for holy thoughts,

               
‘so that the venerable Bernard was the first   
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to shed his shoes and run, pursuing such great peace,

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and, running, thought himself too slow.

               
‘O unknown riches and prolific good! Barefoot goes Giles,   
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barefoot goes Sylvester, following the groom,

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so greatly pleasing is the bride.   
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‘Then that father and teacher went his way   
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in company of his lady and that family,

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each one girt with the same humble cord.   
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‘Nor did an unworthy shame weigh on his brow   
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for being Pietro Bernardone’s son,

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nor for being an object of amazed contempt,

               
‘but he regally laid bare his stern resolve   
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to Innocent and, from him, he received   
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the first seal of his order.

               
‘When his followers, sworn to poverty,   
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increased their number, he, whose admirable life

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were better sung in the glorious realm of Heaven,   
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‘was affirmed with a second crown

               
by the eternal Breath, through Honorius,

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in his holy purpose as shepherd of this flock.   
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‘And when, in his thirst for martyrdom,   
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he preached Christ and the apostles who came after

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in the proud presence of the Sultan,

               
‘finding the people unripe for conversion

               
and unwilling to remain to no good purpose,

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he returned to reap the harvest of Italian fields.

               
‘On the harsh rock between the Tiber and the Arno   
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from Christ he had the final seal, then for two years

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he bore His wounds upon his limbs.

               
‘When He who had chosen him for so much good   
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was pleased to take him to the high reward

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that he had won with his devoted meekness,   
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‘he recommended his most cherished lady

               
to his brothers, as to his rightful heirs,

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commanding them to love her faithfully.

               
‘From his lady’s bosom the illustrious soul

               
chose to set forth, returning to its kingdom,

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and for its corpse would have no other bier.

               
‘Now think what kind of man it took   
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to be a fit companion to maintain

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the steadfast course of Peter’s bark upon the sea,

               
‘and just such was our patriarch. From this

               
you may perceive that he who follows him

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as he commands is freighted with good cargo.

               
‘But his flock has grown so greedy   
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for new sustenance that it is forced

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to scatter through remote and distant pastures,

               
‘and the farther his sheep go wandering off

               
from him, the emptier of milk

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do they at last come back into the fold.

               
‘There are some, indeed, who, fearing harm,

               
huddle near the shepherd, but these are so few

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that a tiny piece of cloth can furnish all their cowls.

               
‘And so, if my words are not too dark,   
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and if your ears have been intent,

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and if you can recall exactly what was said,

               
‘then shall your wish be in part fulfilled   
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and you shall see the reason why the plant is cleft   
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and what is meant by the rebuke   
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“where sheep are fattened if they do not stray.” ’   
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