Paradiso (34 page)

               
‘For poor and fasting did you come into the field

               
to sow the good plant that was once a vine

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and now has turned into a thornbush.’   
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My words ended, the high and holy court resounded

               
through all its starry spheres with ‘Lord, we praise you’   
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with such melody as is only sung above.

               
And that nobleman who now had led me thus   
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from branch to branch in his examination

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so that we neared the highest boughs,

               
began again: ‘The grace that woos your mind   
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has until this moment opened your lips

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and made your mouth say what it should,

               
‘so that I approve what has come forth from it.

               
But now you must declare what you believe

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and through what means you came to such belief.’

               
‘O holy father, spirit who now can see   
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that which you once believed with such conviction

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you outstripped younger feet to reach the sepulcher,’

               
I began, ‘you would have me here declare

               
the substance of my ready faith, and also tell

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the source of it, the reason why I hold it dear.

               
‘And I reply: I believe in one God,   
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one and eternal, who, Himself unmoved, moves

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all the heavens with His love and their desire.

               
‘In defense of this belief I do have proof, not only

               
physical and metaphysical, but offered   
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also by the truth that pours like rain from here

               
‘through Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms,   
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through what the Gospel says and what you wrote   
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once the burning Spirit made you holy.

               
‘I believe in three eternal Persons. I believe   
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these are a single Essence, at once threefold and one

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so as to allow agreement both with “are” and “is.”

               
‘The profound truth of God’s own state of which I speak

               
is many times imprinted in my mind

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by the true instructions of the Gospel.

               
‘This is the beginning, this the living spark

               
that swells into a living flame

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and shines within me like a star in heaven.’

               
As the master to whom a servant brings good news   
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rejoices when he hears it, and puts his arms around

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the speaker just as soon as he has finished,

               
thus, blessing me as he sang,   
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the apostolic light, at whose command I spoke,

               
encircled me three times once I was silent,

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because my words had brought him such delight.

               
Should it ever come to pass that this sacred poem,   
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to which both Heaven and earth have set their hand   
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so that it has made me lean for many years,   
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should overcome the cruelty that locks me out   
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of the fair sheepfold where I slept as a lamb,   
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foe of the wolves at war with it,

               
with another voice then, with another fleece,   
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shall I return a poet and, at the font   
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where I was baptized, take the laurel crown.   
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For there I came into the faith   
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that recommends the soul to God, and now,

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because of it, Peter encircled thus my brow.

               
At that a light moved toward us from the circle   
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out of which had come the first-fruit of the stock

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of vicars Christ did leave for us on earth,

               
and my lady, brimming with joy, said to me:

               
‘Look, look, here is the nobleman   
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who down below draws pilgrims to Galicia.’   
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As, when the dove alights beside its mate   
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and each displays, circling and cooing,

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its fondness for the other,

               
so I saw one great and glorious prince

               
welcomed by the other, both giving praise

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for the feast that there above they share.

               
But after they had shown their pleasure in each other,

               
they both stopped, silent,
coram me
,   
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so brightly flaming that they overcame my sight.

               
Then, smiling, Beatrice said:   
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‘Illustrious living soul, you who wrote

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of the abundant gifts of our heavenly court,   
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‘make Hope resound here at this height,

               
since you know how, you who were the very figure of it   
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when Jesus showed most favor to the three.’

               
‘Lift up your head and then take heart,

               
for all that comes here from the mortal world

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will here be ripened in our radiance.’

               
The second fire offered this assurance.   
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Therefore I raised my eyes up to the hills   
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whose blazing light had weighed them down before.

               
‘Since our Emperor, of His grace,   
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wills that you come, before your death,

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to meet His nobles in His secret chamber,

               
‘so that, having known the reality of this court,

               
you may then strengthen in yourself and others

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the hope that brings true love to those on earth,

               
‘tell what it is and how it blossoms in your mind,   
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and tell from where it came to you.’

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Thus spoke the second light.

               
And the compassionate soul who guided   
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the feathers on my wings to that great height

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answered for me before I could reply:

               
‘The Church Militant has no other son   
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so filled with hope, as it is written

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in the Sun that shines its rays on all our host.

               
‘Therefore is it granted him to come from Egypt

               
to Jerusalem that he may see the city

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before his time of warfare has its end.