The Ascent
The glory of Him who sets all things in motion
Cleaves through the universe, and it flames again
In different places with a different force.
I have been to that heaven where His light
5 Beams brightest and seen things that none, returning,
Has the knowledge or the power to repeat,
Because, as it draws near to its desire,
Our intellect sinks down to such a depth
That memory cannot trace its way back there.
10 Nevertheless, whatever I could treasure
Up in my mind about that sacred kingdom
Shall now become the subject of my song.
O good Apollo, for this final task,
Make me such a vessel of your virtues
15 I may deserve the gift of your dear laurel.
So far, one summit of Parnassus was
Enough for me, but now I need both peaks
On entering the arena that remains.
Come into my breast and breathe in me
20 As you did when you drew Marsyas out
From the sheath of his own living flesh.
O divine power, but lend yourself to me
So I may show the shadow of that blessed
Kingdom which is embedded in my brain,
25 You’ll see me come to your beloved tree,
And crown me then with those same laurel leaves
Of which this theme and you shall make me worthy.
So few times, father, is any laurel gathered
For the triumph of a caesar or a poet —
30 Through sin and shame of human willfulness —
That the Peneian branch should sprout deep joy
To the rejoicing Delphic deity
When it inspires anyone with longing.
A little spark is followed by huge fires:
35 Perhaps, after me, prayers will be so raised
With stronger voices that Cyrrha may respond.
The lamp of the universe rises for mortals
Through various passages, but from that point
Which joins four circles with three crosses
40 It comes out on a more propitious course,
With happier stars to temper and seal tight
The wax of the world more molded to its imprint.
Almost at this outset day had broken there
And evening here, and all that hemisphere
45 Was whitening while this other side grew dark,
When I saw Beatrice turned to her left hand
And looking straight into the sun: never
Had an eagle so fixed his sight upon it!
And as a second ray will break out from
50 The reflection of the first and soar up again,
Just like a pilgrim yearning to return,
So by her action, streaming through my eyes
Into my imagination, my act took shape:
Past mortal might my eyes stared at the sun.
55 Much is permitted to our faculties there
That’s not permitted here, thanks to the place
Made for the human race as its true dwelling.
I did not long endure it, yet not so brief
But that I noticed sparks blaze all about,
60 Like iron brought out molten from the forge.
And at once it seemed that day was added to
The day, as if He who has the power to do so
Had decked the heavens with another sun.
Beatrice stood with her eyes riveted
65 Wholly on the eternal spheres, while I
Fixed my eyes, drawn from the sky, on hers.
So gazing on her I inwardly became
Like Glaucus when he tasted of the grass
Which made him consort of the other sea-gods.
70 This passing-beyond-the human cannot be
Expressed in words; let the example then
Serve him to whom grace grants the experience.
If I were only that soul in me which you
Created last, O Love that rules the heavens,
75 You know, who lifted me up with your light.
When that revolving, which you make unending
By longing for you, captured my attention
With the harmony you tune and modulate,
So much of heaven then seemed to me aflame
80 With fire from the sun that rain or river
Never formed a lake that spread so wide.
The strangeness of the sound and the bright light
Inflamed in me an ardor to know their cause,
Sharper than I had ever felt before.
85 Then she, who saw me as I see myself,
To still my agitated mind, opened
Her lips before I opened mine to ask,
And she began, "You make yourself so dull
With false imaginings that you don’t notice
90 What you would see if you could shake them off.
"You are not now on earth, as you believe;
But lightning, fleeing its place on high, never
Plummeted faster than you rise up to yours."
If I was stripped of my first puzzlement
95 By these brief words which she flashed by her smile,
I now grew more entangled with new doubts,
And I said, "You have set my mind at rest
On one deep wonder, but now I wonder how
I here can pass up through these airy bodies."
100 After a sigh of pity at these words,
She turned her eyes toward me with the look
A mother might give to a delirious child,
And she began, "All things that are have order
Among themselves, and it is this their form
105 That makes the universe a mirror of God.
"In this the higher creatures see the stamp
Of the eternal power, which is the goal
For which the rule I mentioned has been made.
"In the order that I describe, all natures
110 Arrange themselves by different destinations,
In varying nearness to their single Source.
"This is the cause they move to different harbors
On the great sea of being, and each one
Has instinct given it to bear it on.
115 "This one draws fire upward toward the moon,
This is the force that moves in mortal hearts,
This binds the earth together and makes it one.
"This bow shoots at the mark not only for
Created things that lack intelligence
120 But for those who have intellect and love.
"The Providence that sets all this in order
With its light makes that heaven always still
Within which whirls the fastest-moving sphere,
"And to it now, as to a destined spot,
125 The power of that bowstring bears us on,
Aiming what it propels at a glad target.
"It is true that as the form all too often
Does not respond to the intent of art,
Since the material is deaf to summons,
130 "So sometimes the creature wanders from its course,
For even though impelled toward the target,
It has the power to swerve some other way
"(Just as fire from a cloud can be observed
To fall downward), if its first impulse,
135 Lured by false pleasure, bend it to the earth.
"If I judge rightly, you should no more marvel
At your ascent than at a stream that falls
From the top of a mountain to the bottom.
"The wonder would be if, when freed of hindrance,
140 You should have settled down and stayed below,
As though a live flame on the earth kept still."
With that she turned her gaze once more to heaven.
