Paradiso (30 page)

               
‘I see indeed, O sacred light,’ I said,   
→

               
‘how acts of love, unbidden, serve this court

75
           
in concord with that knowledge which foresees,

               
‘but it is hard for me to understand

               
why you alone among your peers   
→

78
           
were foreordained to act upon this charge.’

               
I had not yet quite finished with my words

               
when the light began to spin around its core,

81
           
whirling like a quickly turning millstone.

               
Then the love that was within it spoke:

               
‘Divine light focuses on me, piercing   
→

84
           
the radiance that holds me in its womb.   
→

               
‘Its power, conjoined with my own sight,

               
raises me so far above myself that I can see

87
           
the Highest Essence, the source from which it flows.

               
‘And this inflames the joy with which I burn:

               
for, in the clarity of my sight,

90
           
I match the clearness of my flame.   
→

               
‘Nonetheless, the most enlightened soul in Heaven,   
→

               
that seraph who fixes most his eye on God,

93
           
could not produce an answer to your question,

               
‘for what you ask is hidden in the depths   
→

               
of the abyss of God’s eternal law, so that the sight

96
           
of any being He created is cut off from it.

               
‘And to the mortal world, when you return,

               
bear this report, so that it shall no more presume

99
           
to set its steps toward such a goal.

               
‘The mind, here bright, is dimmed by smoke on earth.

               
Ask yourself, then, how could it do down there

102
         
what it cannot, though Heaven raise it to itself?’

               
His words so reined me in   
→

               
that I withdrew the question, limiting myself

105
         
to asking humbly who he was.

               
‘Between Italy’s two shores   
→

               
and not far distant from your homeland,

108
         
crags rise so high that thunder rolls below them.

               
‘They form a ridge called Càtria.

               
A consecrated monastery stands below,

111
         
once dedicated wholly to God’s worship.’   
→

               
Thus a third time he began,

               
addressing me, and then went on:

114
         
‘There I became so constant serving God,

               
‘my simple fare seasoned with olive oil alone,   
→

               
that I readily endured the heat and frost,

117
         
content in contemplation.

               
‘That cloister which used to yield abundant harvest

               
to these heavens now is barren,

120
         
but soon its barrenness must be revealed.

               
‘In that place I was known as Peter Damian,   
→

               
but Peter the Sinner in the House

123
         
of Our Lady on the Adriatic shore.

               
‘Little of mortal life on earth was left to me

               
when I was singled out and dragged to that red hat   
→

126
         
which now is passed from bad to worse.

               
‘Cephas came, and the exalted vessel   
→
   
→

               
of the Holy Spirit came, lean and barefoot,

129
         
receiving their food at any doorway.   
→

               
‘Now our modern shepherds call for one on this side,

               
one on that, to support them, they are so bloated,

132
         
and one to go before, one to boost them from behind.

               
‘Their fur-lined mantles hang upon their horses’ flanks

               
so that two beasts go underneath one skin.

135
         
O patience, what a heavy load you bear!’

               
As he spoke, I saw more flickering flames   
→

               
descend, spinning from rung to rung,

138
         
at every turn more lovely.

               
They thronged around him and then stopped and raised

               
a cry so loud that nothing here

               
could be compared to it—nor could I make it out,

142
         
so did its thunder overwhelm me.

               
Overcome by wonder, I turned to my guide,   
→
   
→

               
as does a child who always scurries back

3
             
to the one who has his utmost trust.

               
And she, like a mother, quick in comforting   
→

               
her son when he is pale and out of breath

6
             
with a voice that often calmed him in the past,

               
said: ‘Don’t you understand you are in Heaven?   
→

               
Don’t you understand that all of Heaven is holy,

9
             
that all things done here spring from righteous zeal?

               
‘It should be clear to you just how their song,   
→
   
→

               
and then my smile, would have confused you,

12
           
since you were so startled by their cry.

               
‘In it, had you understood their prayers,   
→

               
you would already recognize

15
           
the vengeance you shall see before you die.

               
‘The sword of Heaven never cuts in haste   
→

               
nor in delay, but to the one who waits

18
           
in longing or in fear, it well may seem so.

               
‘Now turn around and see the others,   
→

               
for you shall look on many illustrious spirits   
→

21
           
if you but set your gaze to where I say.’

               
I turned my eyes as she had urged and saw

               
one hundred little globes that made each other brighter   
→

24
           
in the glittering reflections of one another’s rays.

               
I was as one who in himself restrains   
→

               
the spur of his desire and, fearing to presume,

27
           
dares not pose his question.

               
The largest and most lustrous of those pearls   
→

               
advanced to satisfy my longing

30
           
to find out more about him.

               
Then, from deep within, I heard him say: ‘Could you see,   
→
   
→

               
as I do, the charity burning in our midst,

33
           
you would have shared your thoughts with us.