So I revived, and saw that piteous one
  Above me standing, who had been conductress
  Aforetime of my steps beside the river,

And all in doubt I said, "Where's Beatrice?"
  And she: "Behold her seated underneath
  The leafage new, upon the root of it.

Behold the company that circles her;
  The rest behind the Griffin are ascending
  With more melodious song, and more profound."

And if her speech were more diffuse I know not,
  Because already in my sight was she
  Who from the hearing of aught else had shut me.

Alone she sat upon the very earth,
  Left there as guardian of the chariot
  Which I had seen the biform monster fasten.

Encircling her, a cloister made themselves
  The seven Nymphs, with those lights in their hands
  Which are secure from Aquilon and Auster.

"Short while shalt thou be here a forester,
  And thou shalt be with me for evermore
  A citizen of that Rome where Christ is Roman.

Therefore, for that world's good which liveth ill,
  Fix on the car thine eyes, and what thou seest,
  Having returned to earth, take heed thou write."

Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the feet
  Of her commandments all devoted was,
  My mind and eyes directed where she willed.

Never descended with so swift a motion
  Fire from a heavy cloud, when it is raining
  From out the region which is most remote,

As I beheld the bird of Jove descend
  Down through the tree, rending away the bark,
  As well as blossoms and the foliage new,

And he with all his might the chariot smote,
  Whereat it reeled, like vessel in a tempest
  Tossed by the waves, now starboard and now larboard.

Thereafter saw I leap into the body
  Of the triumphal vehicle a Fox,
  That seemed unfed with any wholesome food.

But for his hideous sins upbraiding him,
  My Lady put him to as swift a flight
  As such a fleshless skeleton could bear.

Then by the way that it before had come,
  Into the chariot's chest I saw the Eagle
  Descend, and leave it feathered with his plumes.

And such as issues from a heart that mourns,
  A voice from Heaven there issued, and it said:
  "My little bark, how badly art thou freighted!"

Methought, then, that the earth did yawn between
  Both wheels, and I saw rise from it a Dragon,
  Who through the chariot upward fixed his tail,

And as a wasp that draweth back its sting,
  Drawing unto himself his tail malign,
  Drew out the floor, and went his way rejoicing.

That which remained behind, even as with grass
  A fertile region, with the feathers, offered
  Perhaps with pure intention and benign,

Reclothed itself, and with them were reclothed
  The pole and both the wheels so speedily,
  A sigh doth longer keep the lips apart.

Transfigured thus the holy edifice
  Thrust forward heads upon the parts of it,
  Three on the pole and one at either corner.

The first were horned like oxen; but the four
  Had but a single horn upon the forehead;
  A monster such had never yet been seen!

Firm as a rock upon a mountain high,
  Seated upon it, there appeared to me
  A shameless whore, with eyes swift glancing round,

And, as if not to have her taken from him,
  Upright beside her I beheld a giant;
  And ever and anon they kissed each other.

But because she her wanton, roving eye
  Turned upon me, her angry paramour
  Did scourge her from her head unto her feet.

Then full of jealousy, and fierce with wrath,
  He loosed the monster, and across the forest
  Dragged it so far, he made of that alone

A shield unto the whore and the strange beast.