And all my love was so absorbed in Him, That in oblivion Beatrice was eclipsed. Nor this displeased her; but she smiled at it So that the splendor of her laughing eyes My single mind on many things divided. Lights many saw I, vivid and triumphant, Make us a centre and themselves a circle, More sweet in voice than luminous in aspect. Thus girt about the daughter of Latona We sometimes see, when pregnant is the air, 60 So that it holds the thread which makes her zone. Within the court of Heaven, whence I return, Are many jewels found, so fair and precious They cannot be transported from the realm; And of them was the singing of those lights. Who takes not wings that he may fly up thither, The tidings thence may from the dumb await! As soon as singing thus those burning suns 65 70 75 80 Had round about us whirled themselves three times, That it conducts thee upward by that stair, Who should deny the wine out of his vial Except as water which descends not seaward. 85 90 |