The Portable Dante (76 page)

As one just shaken from a dreamy sleep who having dreamed has now forgotten all and strives in vain to bring it back to mind,

so I was hearing her self-offering, an invitation that can never be erased within the book of my past life.

If at this moment all the tongues of verse, which Polyhymnia and her sisters nourished with their sweet milk, sang to assist my art,

their singing would not come to one one-thousandth part of the truth about her sacred smile nor how it set her holy face aglow;

so I find that my consecrated poem describing Paradise will have to make a leap, like one who finds his road is blocked.

Now bear in mind the weight of my poem’s theme, think of the mortal shoulders it rests on, and do not blame me if I stagger here:

this stretch of sea my vessel’s prow now dares to cut is no place for a little boat nor for a captain who would spare himself.

“Why are you so enamored of my face that you do not turn to the lovely garden flowering in the radiance of Christ?

There is the Rose in which the Word of God took on the flesh, and there the lilies are whose fragrance led mankind down the good path. ”

Thus Beatrice. And I, eager to serve her every wish, surrendered once again my frail eyes to the battle of the light.

Sometimes on cloudy days my eyes have seen a ray of pure sunlight come streaming through the broken clouds and light a field of flowers,

just so I saw there hosts of countless splendors struck from above by ardent rays of love, but could not see the source of such a blaze.

O Mighty Force that seals them with such light, You raised yourself on high so that my eyes, powerless in your presence, might perceive.

The sound of that sweet flower’s name, the one I pray to night and day, drew all my soul into the vision of that flame of flames;

and when both of my eyes revealed to me how rich and glorious was that living star that reigns in Heaven, as it had reigned on Earth,

down from Heaven’s height there came a flaming torch shaped in a ring, as if it were a crown, that spun around the glory of her light.

The sweetest sounding notes enrapturing a man’s soul here below would sound just like a clap of thunder crashing from a cloud

compared to the melodious tones that poured from the sweet lyre crowning the lovely sapphire whose grace ensapphires the heaven’s brightest sphere:

“I am angelic love encompassing the joy supreme who breathed from out the womb which was the place where our Desire dwelt,

and I shall circle you, Heavenly Lady while you follow your Son, to highest heaven and with your presence make it more divine. ”

With this the circling melody was sealed, and all the other lights within that sphere sang out the Blessed Virgin Mary’s name.

The regal mantle folding itself round the turning spheres, and nearest to the breath and ways of God it burns and quickens most,

was curving round us with its inner shore at such a distance that from where I stood as yet there was no sign that it was there;

and so my mortal eyes did not have strength enough to see the crowned flame as it rose, higher and higher, following her son.

And as an infant after it has suckled will raise its arms up searching for its mother, expressing all the love with which it glows,

so I saw all those radiances stretch their flame on high, thus making clear to me how deep their love, how much they cherished Mary.

There they remained suspended in my sight singing
“Regina celi”
in tones so sweet, the joy of it will never leave my mind.

O what abundant grace is stored up here inside those richest coffers who below in our world sowed the land with their good seed!

Herein they truly live and they enjoy the wealth their tears had won for them while they in Babylonian exile scorned all gold.

And here, victorious, beneath the Son of God and Mary and amid the good souls of the Old and the New Covenant

triumphs the one who holds the keys to glory.

“O fellowship of those chosen to feast at the great supper of the Lamb of God Who feeds you, satisfying all your needs,

if by the grace of God this man foretaste of what falls from the table of the Blest before the hour death prescribes for him,

consider his immeasurable thirst; bedew him with a few drops, for you drink forever from the Source of this man’s thoughts. ”

Thus Beatrice. Then those blissful souls started to spin in circles on fixed poles, each looking like a comet flaming bright.

As wheels in clocks are synchronized to move, one slowly, looked at closely, almost still— the other seems to fly compared to it,

just so those whirling wheels by different ly dancing, through their movement, fast or slow, revealed to me the measure of their bliss.

From one that spun the richest light I saw emerge a flame so radiant with joy, no greater brightness danced within the sphere;

three times it circled Beatrice’s soul accompanied by music so divine my memory cannot recapture it,

and so, my pen skips over such detail— not fantasy nor words are good enough to paint the subtle folds of Heaven’s light.

“O holy sister mine, the burning love that glows within your earnest prayer to us releases me to you from my bright sphere. ”

That sacred fire, once it stopped circling her, breathed forth his words directly to my lady, saying precisely what I said above.

And she: “Eternal light of the great man to whom Our Lord brought down and did bequeath the keys to this, our paradise of joy,

now test this man on questions grave or light, as pleases you, pertaining to that faith by means of which you once walked on the sea.

If love and hope and faith he truly has, you will know, for your eyes are fixed upon the place where everything that is is seen.

But since this realm was won by citizens of the true faith, fitting it is for him to glorify it by discussing it. ”

42. The “place” is God. Just as a bachelor arms his mind with thought in silence till his master sets the question to be discussed but not decided on,

so did I arm myself with arguments while she was speaking, that I be prepared for such a questioner and such a creed.

“Speak up, good Christian, and declare yourself! Faith, what is Faith?” At which I raised my eyes to look upon the light that breathed these words;

and then I turned to look at Beatrice whose glance was urging me to let pour forth the waters welling up within my soul.

“May the same Grace that grants me to profess my faith before the great centurion, ” I said, “grant that my thoughts be well expressed.

And I went on: “As the veracious pen, father, of your dear brother, who with you set Rome upon the path of true faith, wrote:

Faith is the substance of those hoped-for things and argument for things we have not seen. And this I take to be its quiddity. ”

Next I heard: “You are right but only if you understand why Faith is classified as
substance
first and then as
argument.”
69 I answered: “The deep mysteries of Heaven that generously reveal themselves to me are so concealed from man’s eyes down on earth

that they exist there only in belief; on such a base is high hope built—it is
substant
by its own nature, one could say.

And since from this belief we must construct logical proofs for what cannot be seen, by nature, this partakes of
argument.
“

Then I heard: “If, on earth, all that is learned by mortal minds is so well understood, there would be no place for the sophist’s wit. ”

That burning love breathed forth these words, and then he added: “Now that you have thoroughly examined both this coin’s alloy and weight,

tell me, do you have such coin in your purse?” I answered: “Yes I do, so bright and round, I have no doubt as to its quality. ”

Then from the depths of that light’s radiance poured the words: “This inestimable gem upon which every other virtue sets,

where did you get it?” I: “The bountiful rain of the Holy Spirit showering the parchments, Old and New, is to my mind

unquestionable certainty of Faith, so accurate that any other proof compared to it would sound most unconvincing. ”

I heard: “These premises, the Old and New, which you believe to be conclusive proof, how do you know they are God’s holy word?”

And I: “The proof that what I read is true is in the works that followed: Nature’s hand could never heat or forge that kind of iron. ”

Then the reply: “Tell me, how do you know that these works ever were? You use as proof, and nothing more, what still needs to be proved. ”

“If the world turned to Christ without the help of miracles, ” I said, “then that would be a miracle far greater than them all,

for you, hungry and poor, entered the field to sow the good plant of the faith that once grew as a vine and now is but a thorn. ”

I said this, and the high and holy choir let ring “
Te Deum laudamus
“through the spheres in strains of music heard only in Heaven.

That Baron who had led me branch by branch, examining my faith, to where we now were getting closer to the topmost leaves,

spoke out again: “The Grace that lovingly speaks with your mind, parting your lips, till now has let them speak the way they should, and I

approve of what I heard come from your mouth. But now you must declare your creed to me, and then tell me the source of your belief. ”

“O holy father, spirit who now sees that faith confirmed that led him to the tomb, though younger feet than his arrived there first, ”

I answered him, “you want me to reveal the form of my unhesitating faith, and you have asked the reason for its being.

I tell you: I believe in one, sole God eternal Who, unmoved, moves all the heavens that spin in His love and in His desire;

and for such faith as mine I have the proofs not only of physics and metaphysics, but of that truth which rains down from this realm

through Moses, through the Prophets, through the Psalms, and through the Gospel and through you who wrote once kindled by the Holy Spirit’s tongue;

and I believe in three eternal Beings, an Essence that is One as well as Three where
is
and
are
describe it equally.

Concerning this profound and holy state of which I speak, the teachings of the Gospel, in many places, has made up my mind.

This is the source, this is the very spark which then ignites into a living flame and like a star in Heaven lights my mind. ”

Then, as a lord delighted with the message delivered by his page embraces him, rejoicing in the happy news he bears,

thus, singing benedictions over me, the apostolic light that bid me speak, when I was silent, circled me three times,

so much delight my words had given him.