So steadfast and attentive were mine eyes
  In satisfying their decennial thirst,
  That all my other senses were extinct,

And upon this side and on that they had
  Walls of indifference, so the holy smile
  Drew them unto itself with the old net

When forcibly my sight was turned away
  Towards my left hand by those goddesses,
  Because I heard from them a "Too intently!"

And that condition of the sight which is
  In eyes but lately smitten by the sun
  Bereft me of my vision some short while;

But to the less when sight re-shaped itself,
  I say the less in reference to the greater
  Splendour from which perforce I had withdrawn,

I saw upon its right wing wheeled about
  The glorious host returning with the sun
  And with the sevenfold flames upon their faces.

As underneath its shields, to save itself,
  A squadron turns, and with its banner wheels,
  Before the whole thereof can change its front,

That soldiery of the celestial kingdom
  Which marched in the advance had wholly passed us
  Before the chariot had turned its pole.

Then to the wheels the maidens turned themselves,
  And the Griffin moved his burden benedight,
  But so that not a feather of him fluttered.

The lady fair who drew me through the ford
  Followed with Statius and myself the wheel
  Which made its orbit with the lesser arc.

So passing through the lofty forest, vacant
  By fault of her who in the serpent trusted,
  Angelic music made our steps keep time.

Perchance as great a space had in three flights
  An arrow loosened from the string o'erpassed,
  As we had moved when Beatrice descended.

I heard them murmur altogether, "Adam!"
  Then circled they about a tree despoiled
  Of blooms and other leafage on each bough.

Its tresses, which so much the more dilate
  As higher they ascend, had been by Indians
  Among their forests marvelled at for height.

"Blessed art thou, O Griffin, who dost not
  Pluck with thy beak these branches sweet to taste,
  Since appetite by this was turned to evil."

After this fashion round the tree robust
  The others shouted; and the twofold creature:
  "Thus is preserved the seed of all the just."

And turning to the pole which he had dragged,
  He drew it close beneath the widowed bough,
  And what was of it unto it left bound.

In the same manner as our trees (when downward
  Falls the great light, with that together mingled
  Which after the celestial Lasca shines)

Begin to swell, and then renew themselves,
  Each one with its own colour, ere the Sun
  Harness his steeds beneath another star:

Less than of rose and more than violet
  A hue disclosing, was renewed the tree
  That had erewhile its boughs so desolate.

I never heard, nor here below is sung,
  The hymn which afterward that people sang,
  Nor did I bear the melody throughout.

Had I the power to paint how fell asleep
  Those eyes compassionless, of Syrinx hearing,
  Those eyes to which more watching cost so dear,

Even as a painter who from model paints
  I would portray how I was lulled asleep;
  He may, who well can picture drowsihood.

Therefore I pass to what time I awoke,
  And say a splendour rent from me the veil
  Of slumber, and a calling: "Rise, what dost thou?"

As to behold the apple-tree in blossom
  Which makes the Angels greedy for its fruit,
  And keeps perpetual bridals in the Heaven,

Peter and John and James conducted were,
  And, overcome, recovered at the word
  By which still greater slumbers have been broken,

And saw their school diminished by the loss
  Not only of Elias, but of Moses,
  And the apparel of their Master changed;