Authors: Dante
‘O holy father, who on my behalf
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deign to be here below, leaving the sweet place
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where by eternal lot you have your seat,
‘who is the angel gazing with such joy
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upon the eyes of her our Queen,
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so much in love he seems to be a flame?’
Thus I tried once more to gain instruction
from him who glowed in Mary’s beauty
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as the morning star reflects the sun.
And he: ‘All confidence and grace of movement
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that can be found in angel or in any blessèd soul
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are found in him—and we would have it so,
‘for it is he who brought the palm to Mary
when the Son of God elected to take on
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the burden of our flesh.
‘But let your eyes follow my words, as I continue,
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noting the eminent patricians
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of this most just and pious empire.
‘These two who are seated there above us,
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most happy for being so near the Empress,
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are, as it were, the two roots of this rose:
‘He who sits beside her to her left
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is that father for whose reckless tasting
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mankind still tastes such bitterness.
‘To her right behold that ancient father
of Holy Church to whose care Christ entrusted
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the keys to this, the fairest flower.
‘And he who was doomed to see before he died
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the years of grief of the beautiful bride,
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she who was won with the lance and the nails,
‘sits next to him and, next to the other, rests
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that leader under whose rule that stiff-necked people,
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fickle and ungrateful, lived on manna.
‘Look at Anna, where she sits across from Peter,
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so content merely to gaze upon her daughter
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she does not move her eyes as she sings hosanna.
‘And opposite the greatest father of a family
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sits Lucy, who urged on your lady, when
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with lowered gaze, you headed on your path to ruin.
‘But since the time runs short that readies you for sleep,
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let us stop here, as a good tailor would,
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who cuts the cloak as he is stocked with cloth.
‘And let us fix our eyes on Primal Love,
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so that, looking up toward Him, you penetrate,
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as far as may be done, His brilliance.
‘But, lest by any chance, beating your wings
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and thinking to advance, you should fall back,
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you must gain your grace through prayer,
‘grace from her who has the power to help you.
You shall follow me with your devotion
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so your heart does not stray from my words.’
THE EMPYREAN
‘you are the one who so ennobled human nature
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that He, who made it first, did not disdain
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to make Himself of its own making.
‘Your womb relit the flame of love—
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its heat has made this blossom seed
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and flower in eternal peace.
‘To us you are a noonday torch of charity,
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while down below, among those still in flesh,
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you are the living fountainhead of hope.
‘Lady, you are so great and so prevail above,
should he who longs for grace not turn to you,
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‘Your loving kindness does not only aid
whoever seeks it, but many times
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gives freely what has yet to be implored.
‘In you clemency, in you compassion,
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in you munificence, in you are joined
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all virtues found in any creature.
‘This man who, from within the deepest pit
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the universe contains up to these heights
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has seen the disembodied spirits, one by one,
‘now begs you, by your grace, to grant such power
that, by lifting up his eyes,
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he may rise higher toward his ultimate salvation.
‘And I, who never burned for my own seeing
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more than now I burn for his, offer all my prayers,
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and pray that they may not fall short,
‘so that your prayers disperse on his behalf
all clouds of his mortality and let
’This too, my Queen, I ask of you, who can achieve
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whatever you desire, that you help him preserve,
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after such vision, the purity of his affections.
‘Let your protection rule his mortal passions.
See Beatrice, with so many of the blessed,
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palms pressed together, joining me in prayer.’
Those eyes belovèd and revered by God,
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fixed on him who prayed, made clear to us
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how dear to her all true devotion is.
Then she turned her gaze to the eternal Light.
It is incorrect to think that any living being
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can penetrate that brightness with such unblinking eyes.