CANTO THE THIRD.
ARGUMENT.
The Poet finds, in the Region of the
Moon, the Spirits of those who had been by Violence compelled to infringe their
Monastic Vows ; and, among the rest, he meets PICARDA, the Sister of FORESE,
mentioned (Canto xi) in the PURGATORIO.
CELESTIAL Truth,
that first, by Love impress’d,
Had stamp’d his
glorious semblance on my breast,
Expell’d my
doubts, and all her light display’d :
I rais’d my eyes
with purpose to declare
My gratitude to
that celestial Fair,
Whose evidence
my inmost Soul obey’d.
II.
But now a fairy
Pageant cross’d my view,
That to itself
my whole attention drew,
The faint excuse
upon my lips was lost,
As thro’ the
medium of a chrystal Sphere,
Or in a wat’ry
Mirror, broad and clear,
Their Images my
range of vision cross’d.
III.
Nor were they
shewn in such a steady light,
As when the
limpid pool reflects the sight,
In full
dimension, and in various hue,
The
corresponding form : but blending pale,
With the pure
element they seem’d to sail,
As twilight
Ghosts their airy track pursue.
IV.
Such Forms I
saw, half visible and wan,
In paly cohorts
thronging to the van,
Not like the
self-enamour’d Boy : I thought
The magic glass
a FALSE impression gave ;
What seem’d a
GENUINE Form beneath the wave,
The Fancy of the hapless Lover caught.
V.
Sudden I turn’d, the living Shapes to view
That cross’d my sight theses wond’rous Shadows threw,
But nought appear’d. Then to my saintly Guide
With rev’rend awe my trembling eye I turn’d ;
In her sweet smile immortal rapture burn’d,
As my new wonder at the sight she spy’d.
VI.
“ Marvel not, that your childish thought excite
My smile, when, wilder’d by excess of light,
Your foot on Truth’s clear surface seems to slide,
As erst in Error’s maze. These Forms that seem
To you the coinage of a dawning dream,
Were human Spirits erst to dust ally’d.
VII.
“ Hither excil’d for broken vows they stray,
Pale Tenants of the Moon’s reflected day,
Address the Vestals ---You shall learn full soon
What emanations of celestial Light,
Still beaming inward, cheers the mental sight,
Tho’ here confin’d within the wand’ring Moon.”
VIII.
Then a fair Shade, whom new desire to know
My errand, seem’d to warm with deeper glow
Than any other Soul, I thus address’d,
Tho’ falt’ring, like a Man that speaks in fear :
“ Hail, happy Tenant of the Lunar Sphere,
Fix’d in the nearest Mansions of the Bless’d !
IX.
“ O thou ! that sit’st in heav’nly Light enshrin’d,
Quaffing th’ elixir pure of joys refin’d,
Above all mortal sense, (for none can know
But hose that feel the bliss,) vouchsafe to tell
Your pedigree, and where, in mortal call,
Your Spirit sojourn’d while you dwelt below.”
X.
To me she turn’d her rapture‑swimming eyes,
And thus began : “ That Love which warms the Skies
Never permits the gate of Truth to close
On him that mounts upon Devotion’s flame,
The knowledge of eternal things to claim :
Heav’n’s Lord the heav’nly boon on all bestows.
XI.
“ When from yon’ Earth I view’d the circling Sky,
One of the holy Sisterhood was I ;
Look well‑‑-and thro’ the mask of heav’nly
charms
That dignify with more than mortal grace
The long remember’d looks you still may trace,
Of young PICARDA, sav’d from Sin’s alarms.
XII.
Our passions wing’d for Heav’n, the holy Dove
Fans to a flame of everlasting Love,
Here in the suburbs of the Blest we sing,
And joy, to feel the faint reflected beam,
That warms us on the happy World’s extreme,
Coasting th’ empyreal bound on tardy wing.
XIII.
“ Here in the purlieus of disclosing Heav’n,
In CYNTHIA’s Orb, a lower lot is giv’n,
Because we sullied Truth’s eternal ray
By slighted vows.”--‑ “ Yet in your looks,” I
said,
“ Such characters of Glory are display’d,
I scarce recall’d them, thro’ th’ eclipse of Day.”
XIV.
“ But now I recognize that pleasing Form,
Taught by your Voice, that us’d my heart to warm
Struck by that heav’nly note, the waken’d Soul
Beams in my eye with recollected pow’rs,
Traces those lineaments that once were yours,
And Mem’ry’s hand the long past scene unrolls.
XV.
“ But tell me, do you never long to rise
To loftier stages in yon’ op’ning Skies ?
Say, do your Souls to larger draughts aspire,
Of the deep stream of life, ormore to know ?”
“ Our wishes,” she reply’d, “ in even flow,
Follow the FIAT of our heav’nly Sire.
XVI.
“ Love
tunes our longings with celestial skill,
Still to
the tenour of the heav’nly will ;
What we
enjoy, we love, nor wish for more :
If we
aspir’d to stations more sublime,
Our
fervours would disturb th’ eternal chime
That rules
the Universe with sapient lore.
XVII.
“ This is
the POLE-STAR of eternal Joy,
Still with
celestial Wisdom to comply,
Ad by his
great behest our voyage steer ;
With
harmonizing will, thro’ ev’ry round
Of this
great Theatre’s eternal bound,
Mild
Resignation’s gen’ral song we hear.
XVIII.
“ When to
his great design our will accords,
A sense of
bliss, which in those climes on high
Is only
known ; yon’ Orbs that never stay,
Shadow, as
thro’ yon’ boundless space they play,
The mental
harmony that fills the Sky.
XIX.
With steady
course, to that unbounded Deep
All things
their everlasting tenour keep,
And hither
fleet.on Dissolution’s wing.”
This
clear’d my doubts at once, for hence I knew,
That, tho’
each Tribe a various portion drew,
Each quaff’d
sufficient of th’ eternal Spring.
XX.
As one
invited to a various feast
Feels, as
he feeds, his appetite increas’d
For
dainties yet untry’d, and calls for more,
Even yet,
while thankful for the former boon ;
So from
this charming Vestal of the Moon
I long to
learn what Tribe she join’d of yore.
XXI.
“ Ah where,” I cry’d, “ was that celestial
twine
OF life you
drew, which glow’d with tints divine,
Marr’d by
invidious Fate before its close.”
“ To
CLARA,” she reply’d, “ I gave my Name :
CLARA,
whose sainted Soul’s instinctive flame
Aloft in
purer fields of Æther glows.
XXII.
“ In
dedication to her heav’nly Spouse,
Her nightly
visions and her daily vows
She gave,
abstracted from terrestrial cares ;
Vows which,
when heav’n-born Charity inspires
With smile
benignant from his subject Choirs,
He still
receives, and wafts them to the Stars.
XXIII.
“ By her
example fir’d, with ardent mind
I sought
the Shade, and left the Worlds behind ;
And thro’
the Cloisters dim, with sacred rage,
The Vestal’s
course pursu’d in saintly stole,
Resolv’d to
follow to th’ eternal goal
Her
spotless steps o’er yon’ sublunar stage.
XXIV.
“ But
wicked man, fro ever prone to vice,
Th’ asylum
forc’d, and broke the hallow’d tier
That bound
my Soul to Heav’n ; that Heav’n which knows
With what
regret my sacred vows I broke,
What long
atoning toils I undertook
Heav’n to
appease, before my final close.
XXV.
“ This
Spirit which appears upon my right,
Like
CYNTHIA rising in the van of Night,
A moving
Mirror to the solar ray,
Like me, if
she vouchsaf’d to speak, could show
The same
sad image of a broken vow,
When from
her brow they rent the veil away.
XXVI.
“ Tho’
forc’d from Contemplation’s holy steep,
Among the
Pageants of the World to weep,
Her heart
still harbour’d with the Vestal Train,
Ill‑fated
CONSTANCE ! an Imperial Spouse,
And Throne,
but ill repaid thy broken vows,
Altho’ thy
Son eclips’d the SUABIAN reign.
XXVII.
She spoke,
and with a soft melodious Hymn
Thro’ the
clear Medium seem’d away to skim,
’Till Voice
and Image both at once were lost ;
Quick as
the parting waters seem to close,
When the
heav’d plummet to the bottom goes,
Seem’d the
quick passage of the parting Ghost.
XXVIII.
Long thro’
the Moon-light scene I search’d in vain,
Then weary
turn’d me to my Guide again,
And met her
eyes ; where, like the Morning Star
Fresh
ris’n, a keener glory seem’d to play :
Scarce
could I bear the Spirit-piercing ray,
Nor dar’d I
question yet the heav’nly Fair.
END OF THE THIRD CANTO.