Canto XXVII of Paradise
image Luis Rojo

Glory to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit!
See the Spouse of Christ, who prostitutes herself.

'Al Padre, al Figlio, a lo Spirito Santo', cominciò, 'gloria!', tutto 'l paradiso, sì che m'inebriava il dolce canto. Ciò ch'io vedeva mi sembiava un riso de l'universo; per che mia ebbrezza intrava per l'udire e per lo viso. Oh gioia! oh ineffabile allegrezza! oh vita intègra d'amore e di pace! oh sanza brama sicura ricchezza!< Dinanzi a li occhi miei le quattro face stavano accese, e quella che pria venne incominciò a farsi più vivace,


RETURN TO THE PORTAL OF HELL


"Glory to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit!" It is by this song that I was accepted to the Paradise, so soft, that I was moved by it. What I saw, appeared to me like the smile of the universe, this why my drunkness filled all my senses. Oh joy, oh unutterable joy! Oh life full of love and peace! Oh assured Beatitud out the prey of desire! In front of my eyes, where standing the four torches in blaze, and whom who came first, started throwing a sharper glare; the Providence who assigns to each one his place, had imposed to everyone silence to the chorus of the blessed ones, when I heard: "Do not be astonished if I change color, because, while I speak, you will see all these changing also. The one,on earth, who usurps my seat and the throne of the Son of God, transforms this Church, into a chameleon, who fills of joyfullness the Malin, who was driven out from here." And like an honest woman, who is not moved at listening to the fault of others, also I saw Jeanne changing her aspect and becoming even more desirable. Then, the words of the Master began again with a faded voice: "See the Spouse of the Christ, over there on earth, who prostitutes herself to marry the form and the manners of the Vilain one; see the children of God, transformed themselves into wolves raptors, sodomizing, fornicating, kissing in the sheep-folds, thus forgetting the raison d'être of love, they transform into vulgar plasma the living products of love. Oh revenge of God, why don't you rise? And you my son, whom the weight of your mortal body will still make turn back to earth, opens your mouth and do not hide what I do not hide myself." Thus I saw up there, the lights transform themselves into ether. My glances only saw their appearances until my eyes could not perceive them any more. My lady, which realized whereas I had ceased looking up there, says to me: "Lower your eyes and see how you have changed location!" Such as a lover satisfied who is pleased only in the presence of his Lady, I burned with the desire to look at heragain. All the lures that nature has created, in the flesh even of women, or in their reproduction by the great-Masters, to seize my soul by taking the eyes first; all these lures taken together are only nothingness, compared to the divine pleasure which dazzles me when I turned over towards the smiling face of my Beauty; and the strenght that her glance gave me, took me off from the place where I was and launched me very far in the sky, and so far that I could not say, which was the place that Jeanne chooses me. But she, who knew my desires, started saying while laughing, with such a joy that God, on his delicate features, appeared to exult in joy: "See the system of the world, which makes that everything turns around a motionless center, and this sky has no other epicentre than Love, which puts it in movement, and which distributes the Beatitud from it. You must now clearly see what it is, you who drive yourself with Love for me; open thus, the eyes of these mortals, below you, submerged, and who cannot raise their eyes out of the water! Innocence, Faith, is only found in the smallest and which flies away with their childhood, or which disappears forever for lack of children, as carriers of faith and hope. And you, do not be astonished, and remember that on earth, there is nobody who governs, and that for this reason, the human specy is corrupted. I still believe and you must believe me also, that will emerge from the stars, Whom who will make germinate again the fruits of truth on the trees of the Garden of Eden."



Marco Polo ou le voyage imaginaire (La tragédie humaine, janvier 2000) © 1999 Jean-Pierre Lapointe
Theme musical: Collection Nguyen (ballade), emprunté aux Archives du Web.
Important Notice: any photos or fragments of photos subject to copyright will be removed on notice.


CANTO XXVIII OF PARADISE