Aquinas on Saint Francis
O senseless the concerns of mortal men!
How empty are the reasonings that force you
To flap your wings and plunge in downward flight!
Here one pursues the law, there medicine;
5 Another hurries off into the priesthood,
And one would rule by fraud or violence!
This one looks to theft and that to business;
Another, caught in pleasures of the flesh,
Wears himself out; one lolls in idleness;
10 While I, delivered from all these concerns,
Am high in heaven now with Beatrice,
Made welcome in the glory of the blessed.
When each one of the spirits had come round
To that point of the circle that he’d left,
15 Each rested like a candle in its stand.
And I heard from within that radiance
Which first addressed me — all the while it smiled
And grew still brighter — a voice begin to say,
"Just as in turn I glitter with these rays,
20 So, staring into the Eternal Light,
I know your thoughts and why you’re thinking them.
"You’re puzzled and would like me to explain
My words in open and explicit language
Aimed at the level of your comprehension,
25 "When I just said, ‘Where fattening is good,’
And also this: ‘No second ever rose’;
And here a clear distinction must be made.
"The Providence that rules over the world
With counsel in which all created sight
30 Is overcome before it plumb the depths—
"So that the Bride of him who with loud cries
Had married her with his own blessed blood
Might move ahead to meet with her Beloved,
"Confident in herself and true to him—
35 Sent for her benefit two princes who
On this side and on that would be her guides:
"The one was all seraphic in his ardor,
The other for his wisdom was on earth
An iridescence of cherubic light.
40 "Of one I shall speak, for in praising one—
Whichever’s chosen — I will praise them both,
Because their labors led to one same goal.
"Between Topino and the stream that pours
Down from the hill picked by the blest Ubaldo,
45 A fertile slope slants from a soaring mountain
"Which makes Perugia feel the cold and heat
Through Porta Sole; and for their heavy yoke
Gualdo and Nocera weep behind it.
"From this slope, where its steepness tapers off,
50 A sun has risen up into the world,
Just as it sometimes rises from the Ganges.
"Let no one, then, who seeks to name this place
Speak of Assisi, a word that is too meager,
But of the East, if he would talk correctly.
55 "He was as yet not too far from his dawning
When he began to make the earth feel fairly
Strengthened by the power of his virtue;
"For he, while still a youth, rushed into battle
Against his father for a lady to whom,
60 Like death, no one unlocks the door with pleasure.
"And in the presence of his spiritual court
Before his father he was wedded to her,
And after, day by day, loved her more deeply.
"She, for eleven hundred years and more
65 Bereft of her first husband, scorned, obscure,
Was left without a wooer till he came.
"Nor was it any help to her to hear
That he who frightened the whole world found her,
With Amyclas, unruffled by his voice.
70 "Nor was there help in having been so steadfast
And fearless that, when Mary stayed below,
She mounted up with Christ high on the cross.
"But not to go on speaking too obscurely,
Now, from this point, take Francis and Poverty
75 To be the lovers in my long description.
"Their harmony and look of happiness
Made love and wonderment and tender glances
The wellspring of inspired holy thoughts,
"So that the venerable Bernard first
80 Took off his shoes and ran for such full peace,
And in his running thought himself too slow.
"Oh unknown wealthiness! oh fruitful good!
Egidius goes barefoot, Silvester too,
Behind the groom, the bride so pleases them!
85 "This father and this master then departs
With his dear lady and their family
Already cinctured with the lowly cord:
"No shame of heart made him bow down his head
For being Pietro Bernardone’s son,
90 Nor for appearing wondrously despised,
"But royally he revealed his stern resolve
To Innocent, and he received from him
The first seal of approval for his Order.
"After a poor multitude had swelled
95 Behind this man whose miracle-making life
Were better sung with hymns in heaven’s glory,
"The Eternal Spirit through Honorius
Encircled then the sacred purposes
Of the chief shepherd with a second crown.
100 "And after that, in thirst for martyrdom,
Before the haughty presence of the Sultan,
He preached Christ Jesus and his followers;
"And when he found the people too unripe
To be converted — not to waste his efforts—
105 He returned to harvest the Italian fields.
"Then on a harsh crag between Tiber and Arno
He received from Christ the last imprinted seal
Which for two years he bore upon his limbs.
"When He who’d chosen him for such great good
110 Was pleased to draw him up to the reward
Which he had earned by making himself little,
"To his brothers as to his rightful heirs
He recommended his most precious lady
And ordered them to love her faithfully;
115 "And from her bosom the illustrious soul
Chose to depart, returning to the kingdom,
And for his body wished no other bier.
"Reflect now what he was who was a worthy
Colleague to him for keeping Peter’s bark
120 Straight on its course across the open sea.
"And such was Dominic, our patriarch:
So you can see that he who follows him
As he commands transports a priceless cargo.
"But now his flock has grown so greedy for
125 New tastes in food that it is only found
Scattered throughout the pasture wilderness.
"The farther from him his sheep stray afield,
Remote and vagabond, the emptier
Of milk are they, returning to the fold.
130 "Some sheep there are indeed that, fearing danger,
Keep close to the shepherd, but they are so few
That little cloth can make up all their cowls!
"Now, if my words have not been indistinct,
If you have listened to them with attention,
135 And if you call to mind what I have said,
"Your wish to know is partially fulfilled
For you will see just how the tree is hacked,
And you will see the meaning of the charge:
" ‘Where fattening is good, unless they stray.’ "
