And unto the first Love will turn our eyes, Moving thy wings believing to advance, 145 By prayer behoves it that grace be obtained; Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee; And thou shalt follow me with thy affection That from my words thy heart turn not aside." 150 And he began this holy orison. "THO CANTO XXXIII. HOU Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son, The limit fixed of the eternal counsel, Thou art the one who such nobility To human nature gave, that its Creator Here unto us thou art a noonday torch Of charity, and below there among mortals That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee, K ΤΟ Not only thy benignity gives succor To him who asketh it, but oftentimes In thee magnificence; in thee unites. 20 Supplicate thee through grace for so much power 25 Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short, 30 That the Chief Pleasure be to him displayed. Still farther do I pray thee, Queen, who canst Whate'er thou wilt, that sound thou mayst preserve After so great a vision his affections. Let thy protection conquer human movements; 36 My prayers to second clasp their hands to thee!" The eyes beloved and revered of God, Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us 40 45 And I, who to the end of all desires Was entering more and more into the ray 50 55 And after dreaming the imprinted passion Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not, 60 Even such am I, for almost utterly Ceases my vision, and distilleth yet Within my heart the sweetness born of it; Even thus upon the wind in the light leaves And by a little sounding in these verses, 65 70 75 I think the keenness of the living ray Which I endured would have bewildered me, If but mine eyes had been averted from it ; On this account to bear, so that I joined To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal, 80 85 Bound up with love together in one volume, What through the universe in leaves is scattered; Substance, and accident, and their operations, All interfused together in such wise That what I speak of is one simple light. The universal fashion of this knot Methinks I saw, since more abundantly In saying this I feel that I rejoice. One moment is more lethargy to me, 90 Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise 95 That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo! My mind in this wise wholly in suspense, Steadfast, immovable, attentive gazed, Because the good, which object is of will, 100 105 Shorter henceforward will my language fall Of what I yet remember, than an infant's Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast. Not because more than one unmingled semblance Was in the living light on which I looked, For it is always what it was before ; But through the sight, that fortified itself In me by looking, one appearance only To me was ever changing as I changed. Within the deep and luminous subsistence Of the High Light appeared to me three circles, Of threefold color and of one dimension, And by the second seemed the first reflected As Iris is by Iris, and the third 110 115 Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed. 120 O how all speech is feeble and falls short Of my conceit, and this to what I saw Is such, 't is not enough to call it little! O Light Eterne, sole in thyself that dwellest, Sole knowest thyself, and, known unto thyself 125 And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself! That circulation, which being thus conceived Appeared in thee as a reflected light, When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes, Within itself, of its own very color Seemed to me painted with our effigy, As the geometrician, who endeavors To square the circle, and discovers not, 130 135 |