Purgatorio (21 page)

               
‘And if my words do not requite your hunger,

               
you shall see Beatrice. She will deliver you   
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entirely from this and every other craving.

               
‘Seek only that the five wounds healed   
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by being painful soon may be closed up,

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as the other two already are.’

               
I was about to say: ‘You give me satisfaction,’   
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when I saw that I had reached another terrace,

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and my eager eyes made me keep silent.

               
There it seemed to me I was caught up   
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in an ecstatic, sudden vision

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in which I saw a temple full of people   
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and, at the door, about to enter, a woman,

               
with the sweet demeanor of a mother, who said:

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‘My son, why have you dealt with us like this?

               
‘Behold, your father and I have searched

               
for you in sorrow.’ Just as she now was silent,

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so did that which brought her leave my sight.

               
Then there appeared to me another woman,   
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tears of grief still running down her cheeks

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from anger at the one whom she disdained.

               
She said: ‘If you are indeed lord of this city,   
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whose naming caused such strife among the gods

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and from which so much knowledge lights the world,

               
‘avenge yourself on those bold arms

               
that dared embrace our daughter, Pisistratus.’

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And it seemed to me that lord gave gracious answer,

               
offered gently and with tranquil look:

               
‘What shall we do to one who seeks our harm

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if we condemn the one who loves us?’

               
Then I saw people, aflame with burning wrath,   
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stoning a youth to death,   
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and each one screaming to himself, ‘Kill, kill.’   
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And I saw him sinking to the ground—

               
for death was heavy on him now—

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but keeping his eyes open to Heaven,   
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as from his deepest agony he begged   
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the Lord on high to pardon his tormentors

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with a look that must unlock compassion.

               
When my soul made its way back   
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to the things that are real outside it,

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I came to know my errors were not false.

               
My leader, who could see that I was acting   
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like one who shakes himself from sleep, said:

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‘What’s wrong with you that you can’t walk straight

               
‘but have come now more than half a league

               
with your eyes veiled and your legs entangled,

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like a man overcome by wine or sleep?’

               
‘O my dear father,’ I said, ‘if you’ll but listen,   
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I will tell you exactly what I saw

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when my legs were taken from me.’

               
And he: ‘If over your face you wore   
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a hundred masks, even your faintest thoughts

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would not be hidden from my sight.

               
‘These things were shown so you would not refuse   
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to open your heart to the waters of peace

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that pour from the eternal fountain.

               
‘I did not ask “What’s wrong?” for your resemblance   
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to a man who stares with but unseeing eyes

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when his body lies insensate,

               
‘but asked to put fresh vigor in your step.

               
So must the sluggard, slow to use his waking hours

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even once these come, be spurred to act.’

               
We went along through the evening hour,   
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forcing our eyes to seek the farthest point ahead

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against the bright late beams,

               
when, little by little, a smoke moved toward us,

               
black as night, and there was nowhere

               
we could escape from it. And first it took away

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the pureness of the air and then our sight.

               
Gloom of hell or of a night deprived   
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of all the stars, beneath a barren sky

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which everywhere was overcast with clouds,

               
had never put so dark a veil across my eyes

               
or been so harsh and stinging to my sight

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as was the smoke that covered us

               
so that I could not keep my eyelids open.

               
And then my wise and trusted escort   
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came up and offered me his shoulder.

               
Just as the blind man walks behind his guide   
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so that he does not stray or strike against

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something that might hurt or even kill him,

               
thus did I move through that foul, bitter air

               
and listened to my leader, who kept urging:

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‘Make sure that you are not cut off from me.’

               
I heard voices and each one seemed to pray

               
for peace and mercy to the Lamb of God

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who bears away our sins.

               
They all began with
Agnus Dei,
   
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and with one voice and intonation sang the words

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so that they seemed to share complete accord.

               
I asked, ‘Master, are these spirits that I hear?’

               
And he: ‘You have it right. Here they undo

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the knot that was their wrath.’

               
‘But who are you that cleave our smoke?   
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You speak of us as though, even now,

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you measured time in months and days,’

               
I heard a voice say.

               
Then my master urged: ‘Answer him,

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and ask him if the way goes up from here.’

               
And I: ‘O creature who purify yourself   
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to return in beauty to the One who made you,

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you’ll hear a wondrous story if you follow me.’

               
‘I will follow as far as is permitted,’

               
he said, ‘and if the smoke denies us sight,

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hearing will keep us joined instead.’

               
And I began: ‘With the very swaddling clothes   
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that death unwinds I make my way above,

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and I have come through agony of hell.

               
‘Since God has so received me in His grace

               
that He has willed that I shall see His court   
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in ways unknown to modern custom,