flight.
“Now praise God for His generosity! 22
This star is nearest earth,” said happily
that fairest one who understood my mind.
I saw what lower down could not exist. 25
Luminous mist enclosed us now inside
a diamond-hard and perfect shining pearl,
yet we could move in it as easily 28
as light rays pass through water in a glass
without a change of character in each.
For one or more bodies to occupy 31
an equally dense body easily
defies earth’s common sense. In Paradise
it was quite clear to my intelligence. 34
“Lady,” said I, “my gratitude to He
who saves us from death’s grip will never cease,
but why, when viewed from where most people live, 37
has this pure moon a spotted face? Some say
they can make out Cain and his thornbush there.”
Amused she said, “Wits stray when seeking laws 40
for what they cannot touch, so tell me now
what you think the cause.” “Varied density?”
I suggested. “Looking through dirty air?” 43
“No,” said she. “God has made all the Heavens
equally good. Air here is free from dirt,
and though bodies of light within these skies 46
differ in sizes, colours, faculties,
their densities do not. On summer days
49 most things appear equally clear at noon.
At night when you see bodies in one sphere
what you mistake for spots are smaller lights
52 contrasted with more bright, as in the moon.”
3: In the Moon
She who, sunlike, first warmed my breast with love 1
deserved both gratitude for that reply
and for correcting me. Raising my eyes,
surprise expelled my thanks. I thought she stood 4
beside a dusty glass that mirrored folk
so faintly that a pearl on a pale brow
was not more dim. They seemed to beckon me. 7
Narcissus loved reflections of himself
so gazed in front. To see these folk more clear
I looked behind myself, and none were there. 10
Turning again to my sweet smiling guide
I heard her say, “Funny, the childish way
you do not trust your eyes in Paradise! 13
These beings by my side are real although
lowest in Heaven for breaking holy vows.
Question them. Hear. Believe. They shine in truth 16
and never more will truth depart from them.”
I faced the shade that seemed most keen to speak
and almost stammering with eagerness 19
declared, “O spirit made for blessedness,
who dwells in sweetness of this radiance,
22 will you be kind enough to let me know
your name and circumstance?” She eagerly
and cheerfully told me, “We can’t refuse
25 kindness to those who only want what’s right
because at our great height above the earth
all are like God in this. On earth I was
28 your friend Forese’s sister, Piccarda,
forced to wed someone who I did not love.
Soon after I was dead. My fairer face
31 is why you do not recognise me now.”
“Piccarda! Yes, I know you,” I declared,
“although at first the glory in your face
34 half-blinded, dazed, distracted me. But say,
is not a higher sphere what you desire?
In higher places you’d be held more dear.”
37 She smiled a bit (as did the other shades)
then answered me so gladly that she seemed
in the first fires of love. “Brother, our wills
40 are tuned by charity – by love itself.
We thirst for what we have, and nothing more.
Our wills are now identical with His
43 who keeps all things in perfect harmony –
earth, planets, stars, up to the outermost
circumference of all, which is Himself.
46 Any in Paradise who craved for more
(and once before this craving did occur)
would strike a discord through our bliss and sever
charity from necessity, and thus 49
destroy the harmony of Heaven too.
God’s will is the creative sea in which
we live and move. Sharing it is our peace.” 52
I now knew why the bliss of Paradise
is everywhere in Heaven – each soul
is
