第 24 节
作者:交通工具类:沧海一叶舟      更新:2021-02-20 15:03      字数:6999
  Which I endured would have bewildered me;
  If but mine eyes had been averted from it;
  And I remember that I was more bold
  On this account to bear; so that I joined
  My aspect with the Glory Infinite。
  O grace abundant; by which I presumed
  To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal;
  So that the seeing I consumed therein!
  I saw that in its depth far down is lying
  Bound up with love together in one volume;
  What through the universe in leaves is scattered;
  Substance; and accident; and their operations;
  All interfused together in such wise
  That what I speak of is one simple light。
  The universal fashion of this knot
  Methinks I saw; since more abundantly
  In saying this I feel that I rejoice。
  One moment is more lethargy to me;
  Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise
  That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo!
  My mind in this wise wholly in suspense;
  Steadfast; immovable; attentive gazed;
  And evermore with gazing grew enkindled。
  In presence of that light one such becomes;
  That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect
  It is impossible he e'er consent;
  Because the good; which object is of will;
  Is gathered all in this; and out of it
  That is defective which is perfect there。
  Shorter henceforward will my language fall
  Of what I yet remember; than an infant's
  Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast。
  Not because more than one unmingled semblance
  Was in the living light on which I looked;
  For it is always what it was before;
  But through the sight; that fortified itself
  In me by looking; one appearance only
  To me was ever changing as I changed。
  Within the deep and luminous subsistence
  Of the High Light appeared to me three circles;
  Of threefold colour and of one dimension;
  And by the second seemed the first reflected
  As Iris is by Iris; and the third
  Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed。
  O how all speech is feeble and falls short
  Of my conceit; and this to what I saw
  Is such; 'tis not enough to call it little!
  O Light Eterne; sole in thyself that dwellest;
  Sole knowest thyself; and; known unto thyself
  And knowing; lovest and smilest on thyself!
  That circulation; which being thus conceived
  Appeared in thee as a reflected light;
  When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes;
  Within itself; of its own very colour
  Seemed to me painted with our effigy;
  Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein。
  As the geometrician; who endeavours
  To square the circle; and discovers not;
  By taking thought; the principle he wants;
  Even such was I at that new apparition;
  I wished to see how the image to the circle
  Conformed itself; and how it there finds place;
  But my own wings were not enough for this;
  Had it not been that then my mind there smote
  A flash of lightning; wherein came its wish。
  Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
  But now was turning my desire and will;
  Even as a wheel that equally is moved;
  The Love which moves the sun and the other stars。
  APPENDIX
  SIX SONNETS ON DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY
  BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807…1882)
  I
  Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
  A laborer; pausing in the dust and heat;
  Lay down his burden; and with reverent feet
  Enter; and cross himself; and on the floor
  Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er;
  Far off the noises of the world retreat;
  The loud vociferations of the street
  Become an undistinguishable roar。
  So; as I enter here from day to day;
  And leave my burden at this minster gate;
  Kneeling in prayer; and not ashamed to pray;
  The tumult of the time disconsolate
  To inarticulate murmurs dies away;
  While the eternal ages watch and wait。
  II
  How strange the sculptures that adorn these towers!
  This crowd of statues; in whose folded sleeves
  Birds build their nests; while canopied with leaves
  Parvis and portal bloom like trellised bowers;
  And the vast minster seems a cross of flowers!
  But fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves
  Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves;
  And; underneath; the traitor Judas lowers!
  Ah! from what agonies of heart and brain;
  What exultations trampling on despair;
  What tenderness; what tears; what hate of wrong;
  What passionate outcry of a soul in pain;
  Uprose this poem of the earth and air;
  This mediaeval miracle of song!
  III
  I enter; and I see thee in the gloom
  Of the long aisles; O poet saturnine!
  And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine。
  The air is filled with some unknown perfume;
  The congregation of the dead make room
  For thee to pass; the votive tapers shine;
  Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine;
  The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb。
  From the confessionals I hear arise
  Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies;
  And lamentations from the crypts below
  And then a voice celestial that begins
  With the pathetic words; 〃Although your sins
  As scarlet be;〃 and ends with 〃as the snow。〃
  IV
  With snow…white veil; and garments as of flame;
  She stands before thee; who so long ago
  Filled thy young heart with passion and the woe
  From which thy song in all its splendors came;
  And while with stern rebuke she speaks thy name;
  The ice about thy heart melts as the snow
  On mountain heights; and in swift overflow
  Comes gushing from thy lips in sobs of shame。
  Thou makest full confession; and a gleam
  As of the dawn on some dark forest cast;
  Seems on thy lifted forehead to increase;
  Lethe and Eunoethe remembered dream
  And the forgotten sorrowbring at last
  That perfect pardon which is perfect peace。
  V
  I Lift mine eyes; and all the windows blaze
  With forms of saints and holy men who died;
  Here martyred and hereafter glorified;
  And the great Rose upon its leaves displays
  Christ's Triumph; and the angelic roundelays;
  With splendor upon splendor multiplied;
  And Beatrice again at Dante's side
  No more rebukes; but smiles her words of praise。
  And then the organ sounds; and unseen choirs
  Sing the old Latin hymns of peace and love
  And benedictions of the Holy Ghost;
  And the melodious bells among the spires
  O'er all the house…tops and through heaven above
  Proclaim the elevation of the Host!
  VI
  O star of morning and of liberty!
  O bringer of the light; whose splendor shines
  Above the darkness of the Apennines;
  Forerunner of the day that is to be!
  The voices of the city and the sea;
  The voices of the mountains and the pines;
  Repeat thy song; till the familiar lines
  Are footpaths for the thought of Italy!
  Thy fame is blown abroad from all the heights;
  Through all the nations; and a sound is heard;
  As of a mighty wind; and men devout;
  Strangers of Rome; and the new proselytes;
  In their own language hear thy wondrous word;
  And many are amazed and many doubt。
  End