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THREE CANTOS OF DANTE’S “PARADISO.”

[Transcribers Note:  Line that had notes associated with them have been numbered.  The notes have been moved to the end of the canto.]

CANTO XXIII.

    Even as a bird, ’mid the beloved leaves, [1]
      Quiet upon the nest of her sweet brood
      Throughout the night, that hideth all things from us,
    Who, that she may behold their longed-for looks
      And find the nourishment wherewith to feed them,
      In which, to her, grave labors grateful are,
    Anticipates the time on open spray
      And with an ardent longing waits the sun,
      Gazing intent, as soon as breaks the dawn: 
    Even thus my Lady standing was, erect
      And vigilant, turned round towards the zone
      Underneath which the sun displays least haste; [12]
    So that beholding her distraught and eager,
      Such I became as he is, who desiring
      For something yearns, and hoping is appeased. 
    But brief the space from one When to the other;
      From my awaiting, say I, to the seeing
      The welkin grow resplendent more and more. 
    And Beatrice exclaimed:  “Behold the hosts
      Of the triumphant Christ, and all the fruit
      Harvested by the rolling of these spheres!” [21]
    It seemed to me her face was all on flame;
      And eyes she had so full of ecstasy
      That I must needs pass on without describing. 
    As when in nights serene of the full moon
      Smiles Trivia among the nymphs eternal
      Who paint the heaven through all its hollow cope,
    Saw I, above the myriads of lamps,
      A sun that one and all of them enkindled, [29]
      E’en as our own does the supernal stars. 
    And through the living light transparent shone
      The lucent substance so intensely clear
      Into my sight, that I could not sustain it. 
    O Beatrice, my gentle guide and dear! 
      She said to me:  “That which o’ermasters thee
      A virtue is which no one can resist. 
    There are the wisdom and omnipotence
      That oped the thoroughfares ’twixt heaven and earth,
      For which there erst had been so long a yearning.” 
    As fire from out a cloud itself discharges,
      Dilating so it finds not room therein,
      And down, against its nature, falls to earth,
    So did my mind, among those aliments
      Becoming larger, issue from itself,
      And what became of it cannot remember. 
      “Open thine eyes, and look at what I am:  [45]
      Thou hast beheld such things, that strong enough
      Hast thou become to tolerate my smile.” 
    I was as one who still retains the feeling
      Of a forgotten