Dante Alighieri: And as a ray descending from the sky (from The Paradiso, Canto I)

And as a ray descending from the sky
     gives rise to another, which climbs back again,
     as a pilgrim yearns for home; so through my eye

her action, like a ray into my mind,
     gave rise to mine: I stared into the Sun
     so hard that here it would have left me blind;

but much is granted to our senses there,
     in that garden made to be man's proper place,
     that is not granted us when we are here.

I had to look away soon, and yet not
     so soon but what I saw him spark and blaze
     like new-tapped iron when it pours white-hot.

And suddenly, as it appeared to me,
     day was added to day, as if He who can
     had added a new Sun to Heaven's glory.

Beatrice stared at the eternal spheres
     entranced, unmoving; and I looked away
     from the Sun's height to fix my eyes on hers.

And as I looked, I felt begin within me
     what Glaucus felt eating the herb that made him
     a god among the others in the sea.

How speak trans-human change to human sense?
     Let the example speak until God's grace
     grants the pure spirit the experience.

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Dante Alighieri

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Dante Alighieri

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World