And unto the first Love will turn our eyes,
That looking upon Him thou penetrate
As far as possible through his effulgence.
Truly, lest peradventure thou recede,

Moving thy wings believing to advance,

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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.

"TH

CANTO XXXIII.

HOU Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,
Humble and high beyond all other creature,

The limit fixed of the eternal counsel,

Thou art the one who such nobility

To human nature gave, that its Creator

Did not disdain to make himself its creature.
Within thy womb rekindled was the love,
By heat of which in the eternal peace
After such wise this flower has germinated.
Here unto us thou art a noonday torch

Of charity, and below there among mortals
Thou art the living fountain-head of hope.
Lady, thou art so great, and so prevailing,

That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee,
His aspirations without wings would fly.

K

S

ΙΟ

Not only thy benignity gives succor

To him who asketh it, but oftentimes
Forerunneth of its own accord the asking.
In thee compassion is, in thee is pity,

In thee magnificence; in thee unites
Whate'er of goodness is in any creature.
Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth
Of the universe as far as here has seen
One after one the spiritual lives,

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Supplicate thee through grace for so much power 25
That with his eyes he may uplift himself
Higher towards the uttermost salvation.
And I, who never burned for my own seeing
More than I do for his, all of my prayers

Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short, 30
That thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud
Of his mortality so with thy prayers,

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;
See Beatrice and all the blessed ones

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My prayers to second clasp their hands to thee ! " The eyes beloved and revered of God,

Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us How grateful unto her are prayers devout; Then unto the Eternal Light they turned,

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On which it is not credible could be
By any creature bent an eye so clear.

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And I, who to the end of all desires

Was now approaching, even as I ought
The ardor of desire within me ended.
Bernard was beckoning unto me, and smiling,

That I should upward look; but I already
Was of my own accord such as he wished;
Because my sight, becoming purified,

Was entering more and more into the ray Of the High Light which of itself is true. From that time forward what I saw was greater Than our discourse, that to such vision yields, And yields the memory unto such excess. Even as he is who seeth in a dream,

50

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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 the snow is in the sun unsealed,

Even thus upon the wind in the light leaves
Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost.
O Light Supreme, that dost so far uplift thee
From the conceits of mortals, to my mind
Of what thou didst appear re-lend a little,
And make my tongue of so great puissance,

That but a single sparkle of thy glory
It may bequeath unto the future people;
For by returning to my memory somewhat,
And by a little sounding in these verses,
More of thy victory shall be conceived!

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I think the keenness of the living ray

Which I endured would have bewildered me,

If but mine eyes had been averted from it;
And I remember that I was more bold

On this account to bear, so that I joined
My aspect with the Glory Infinite.
O grace abundant, by which I presumed

To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal,
So that the seeing I consumed therein !
I saw that in its depth far down is lying

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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,

And evermore with gazing grew enkindled.
In presence of that light one such becomes,
That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect
It is impossible he e'er consent;

Because the good, which object is of will,
Is gathered all in this, and out of it
That is defective which is perfect there.

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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

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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,
Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein.

As the geometrician, who endeavors

To square the circle, and discovers not,

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By taking thought, the principle he wants,

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