Paradiso -- Canto XXV
Saint James, Examination of Hope
If it ever happens that this sacred poem
To which earth and heaven have so set their hands
That it has left me lean through these long years
Conquers the cruelty that keeps me from
5 The lovely sheepfold where I slept, a lamb,
An enemy to wolves that raided it,
Now with a different voice, with different fleece,
I shall return a poet, and be crowned
At the same font in which I was baptized,
10 For there I entered in the faith that makes
Souls known to God; and after, for its sake,
Peter wreathed three times around my forehead.
Right then a light sped toward us from the ring
From which had issued forth the same first-fruit
15 Of all the vicars whom Christ left on earth.
At that my lady, filled with happiness,
Cried out to me, "Look! look! And see the baron
For whose sake, down there, pilgrims seek Galicia."
As when a dove alights down by its mate,
20 And one pours out affection on the other,
Circling round and cooing all the while,
So I saw one exalted prince of glory
Made welcome by the other, while they praised
The food which nourishes them there on high.
25 But after these glad greetings had been given,
Each one in silence stopped in front of me,
So blazing that my sight was wholly vanquished.
Then, smiling brightly, Beatrice said to him,
"Illustrious spirit, who has chronicled
30 The liberality of our high court,
"Let hope resound upon this height: you know
How often you personified that virtue
When Jesus showed more honor to you three."
"Lift up your head and reassure yourself,
35 For what mounts up here from the mortal world
Must come to ripening within our rays."
The second fire gave me this assurance.
With that I raised my eyes unto the mountains
Whose mighty weight had first bent down my lids.
40 "Since by his grace our Emperor wills that
Before your death you so come face to face
With his peers here in his most private hall
"That, through your seeing the truth of this court,
You now may strengthen in yourself and others
45 The hope that leads to love of good on earth:
"Tell what is hope, and how it blossomed up
Within your mind, and tell where you received it."
The second light continued in this vein.
And she who in her lovingkindness guided
50 The feathers of my wings on that high flight
Anticipated my response like this:
"There is no child of the Church Militant
More full of hope than he, and this is written
There in the Sun which beams on all our hosts.
55 "So he has been allowed to take this journey
From Egypt to Jerusalem, for seeing,
Before he finished military service,
"The other two points that you raised above
(Not for your knowledge but that he report
60 What lavish pleasure you take in this virtue),
"I leave to him, for they will not be hard
Nor cause for boasting: let him answer then,
And may the grace of God help him reply!"
Just as the pupil, who is prompt and willing
65 To show he knows the subject, answers the teacher
To prove to him that he is worth high marks,
"Hope," I said, "is the sure expectation
Of future glory, and it is produced
By divine grace and by preceding merit.
70 "This light descends to me from many stars,
But it was first distilled into my heart
By the leading singer of the leading Lord.
" ‘Let them have hope in Thee who know Thy name,’
He says in his inspired psalm, and who,
75 If he has my faith, does not know the song?
"You afterwards instilled it into me
Through your Epistle, along with his instilling,
So I am drenched and rain your dew on others."
While I was speaking, suddenly a flash
80 Within the living bosom of the fire
Trembled repeatedly like lightning;
Then it breathed out, "The love that burns in me
Still for that virtue which had followed me
Up to the palm and time to quit the field
85 "Wills that I breathe once more, for your delight,
These words to you, and so it is my pleasure
For you to tell what hope holds promised to you."
And I: "The new and ancient Scriptures give
A symbol in the souls God made his friends,
90 And this symbol points the meaning out to me:
"Isaiah says that each soul shall be dressed
With double garments in his own country,
And his own country is this same sweet life.
"Your brother, too, is even more explicit,
95 Where he treats of the souls in their white robes,
In setting forth this revelation to us."
First, as these words were coming to an end,
"Let them find hope in Thee," rang out above us,
And to it all the choirs around re-echoed.
100 Next, one light among the rings flashed out
So bright that if the Crab had one such star
Winter would have a month of total daylight.
And as a happy girl will rise and run
To join the dance — not out of vanity,
105 But only to do honor to the bride,
So I saw the effulgent splendor come
Up to the two now reeling to the notes
In perfect keeping with their burning love.
It joined there in the singing and the spinning,
110 And, motionless and silent as a bride,
My lady kept her eyes attached to them.
"This one is he who lay upon the breast
Of our true Pelican, and who was chosen
From on the cross to take up the great duty."
115 So spoke my lady, but no more after
Than before saying these words did she shift
Her gaze away from where she fixed attention.
Just like the man who stares and strains to see
The sun when it is partially eclipsed
120 And who through peering comes to lose his sight,
So I became on seeing that last flame
Till this was said: "Why do you blind yourself
To look for something that has no place here?
"My body is still earth within the earth
125 And will remain there with the rest until
Our number equals the eternal tally.
"Only those two lights who have ascended
Wear their two robes here in the blessed cloister,
And this word you shall bring back to your world."
130 While this voice spoke, the flaming gyre grew still,
Together with the sweet mixed harmony
Made by the singing of the three-part breathing,
As, in avoiding danger or fatigue,
The oars that up to now sliced through the water
135 Stop all at once right when the whistle blows.
Ah! how deep was the disturbance in my mind
When I turned once again to gaze on Beatrice
And found I could not see her — even though
I stood close to her in the world of bliss.
