As much as 'twixt the close of the third hour And dawn of day appeareth of that sphere Which aye in fashion of a child is playing, So much it now appeared, towards the night, Was of his course remaining to the sun;
There it was evening, and 'twas midnight here;
And the rays smote the middle of our faces, Because by us the mount was so encircled, That straight towards the west we now were going When I perceived my forehead overpowered Beneath the splendour far more than at first, And stupor were to me the things unknown, Whereat towards the summit of my brow I raised my hands, and made myself the visor Which the excessive glare diminishes.
As when from off the water, or a mirror, The sunbeam leaps unto the opposite side, Ascending upward in the selfsame measure That it descends, and deviates as far From falling of a stone in line direct, (As demonstrate experiment and art,)
So it appeared to me that by a light Refracted there before me I was smitten;
On which account my sight was swift to flee.
"What is that, Father sweet, from which I cannot So fully screen my sight that it avail me,"
Said I, "and seems towards us to be moving?"
"Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet The family of heaven," he answered me;
"An angel 'tis, who comes to invite us upward.
Soon will it be, that to behold these things Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee As much as nature fashioned thee to feel."
When we had reached the Angel benedight, With joyful voice he said: "Here enter in To stairway far less steep than are the others."
We mounting were, already thence departed, And "Beati misericordes" was Behind us sung, "Rejoice, thou that o'ercomest!"
My Master and myself, we two alone Were going upward, and I thought, in going, Some profit to acquire from words of his;
And I to him directed me, thus asking:
"What did the spirit of Romagna mean, Mentioning interdict and partnership?"
Whence he to me: "Of his own greatest failing He knows the harm; and therefore wonder not If he reprove us, that we less may rue it.
Because are thither pointed your desires Where by companionship each share is lessened, Envy doth ply the bellows to your sighs.
But if the love of the supernal sphere Should upwardly direct your aspiration, There would not be that fear within your breast;
For there, as much the more as one says 'Our,'
So much the more of good each one possesses, And more of charity in that cloister burns."
"I am more hungering to be satisfied,"
I said, "than if I had before been silent, And more of doubt within my mind I gather.
How can it be, that boon distributed The more possessors can more wealthy make Therein, than if by few it be possessed?"
And he to me: "Because thou fixest still Thy mind entirely upon earthly things, Thou pluckest darkness from the very light.
That goodness infinite and ineffable Which is above there, runneth unto love, As to a lucid body comes the sunbeam.
So much it gives itself as it finds ardour, So that as far as charity extends, O'er it increases the eternal valour.
