DANTE'S SUBLIME COMEDY: PARADISE: Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14: From Sun To Mars

Water contained by bowl flows out to rim

            if pebble is dropped in. When rim is struck

            the water ripples back. The flow of words             3

           

from shining Thomas reached our ears then stopped

            As if struck by a thought, Beatrice spoke.  

“Dear Sir, more words are needed by this man      6

who does not know what he should ask. I do.

All Paradise is made of light, souls too.

On the last day who must unite again                    9

with their old fleshly bodies raised from dust,

even their eyes. How will they see without

(at least at first) intolerable pain?”                          12

                                               

This question, eager and devout, aroused

in the wise stars a storm of tuneful mirth.

With swifter melody they danced in form              15

of blossoms, falling snow, butterfly wings,

            for with these words I try and fail to tell

the lovely, wondrous things this dance conveyed  18 

           

until Saint Thomas said, “The miracle

            of Resurrection painlessly restores

            all the First Will intended us to be,                         21

with bodies free as minds too seldom are,

except for those of the angelic kinds,

and of Our Father, only One In Three,                  24

Eternal, Natural and Singular

            replenishing, refreshing such as we.”

            Then the full chorus of the solar choirs                  27

sang what the sainted Thomas said three times,

            sang it so beautifully that the sound

            will satisfy the ferventest desires                            30

of all who come to merit Paradise.

            From out the central globe spoke Solomon,

            his voice as archangelically soft                             33

  

as if announcing Mary’s pregnancy.

            “When bodies finally complete our souls

            we will surpass in brightness what you see,           36

as flaming coals surpass black stones from mines.

            And yet we shall not be consumed because

            God’s virtue wills we share in His delight.”           39

                                                      

So quick were both the choirs to sing Amen

            I knew they longed to have their bodies back

            not for themselves alone. They wished to see         42

mothers, fathers, more they had dearly loved

            in times before they were immortal flames;

            And then I saw beyond the outer sphere                 45

a new horizon form of equal stars

            like galaxies seen here when day is done,

            but these were shining round our undimmed sun!   48

The brilliance was more than I could bear,

            banishing both my sight and memory.

            Only the fair and smiling Beatrice                           51

survives from later visions of the sun.

            We reached a higher zone of Paradise

            when I at last recovered use of sight.                      54

The planet with the glow of ruddy light

            which to the heathen indicated war,

            kindled in me a need for sacrifice.                          57

In words of heartfelt silent inner prayer

            (the only speech all share) I pled with Christ

            to take this thing I am and fought to give                60

           

with every living particle of will,

            then found my offering acceptable.

            The Crucifix appeared within that star,                   63

its beams from side to side, from foot to top

            wide as a crossroads made of the same stuff

            as, bridging the night sky, that thoroughfare           66

           

from pole to pole the gleaming Milky Way.

            This cross so flamed forth Christ, my memory

            defeats my skill to speak of it, but all                       69

  

who lift the cross of Christ and follow him

            will forgive me for what I cannot say

            about His vision flashing in the dawn.                     72

From arm to arm, summit to base and back

            light travelled, sparkling as they met and passed,

            some swift or slow, some dazzling, and some dim   75

because they sparkled less but happiness

            was equally in all. Harp and viola

            combine so well we cannot tell apart                       78

what each gives melody. The moving lights

            gave out a hymn whose words I did not catch

            and yet the whole conveyed arise and win              81

so sweetly none had ever bound my soul

            in such enchanting chains of lovely sound,

            though not preventing sight of Beatrice                                       

whose beauty grew more pure with each ascent.                 85