As soon as singing thus those burning suns
  Had round about us whirled themselves three times,
  Like unto stars neighbouring the steadfast poles,

Ladies they seemed, not from the dance released,
  But who stop short, in silence listening
  Till they have gathered the new melody.

And within one I heard beginning: "When
  The radiance of grace, by which is kindled
  True love, and which thereafter grows by loving,

Within thee multiplied is so resplendent
  That it conducts thee upward by that stair,
  Where without reascending none descends,

Who should deny the wine out of his vial
  Unto thy thirst, in liberty were not
  Except as water which descends not seaward.

Fain wouldst thou know with what plants is enflowered
  This garland that encircles with delight
  The Lady fair who makes thee strong for heaven.

Of the lambs was I of the holy flock
  Which Dominic conducteth by a road
  Where well one fattens if he strayeth not.

He who is nearest to me on the right
  My brother and master was; and he Albertus
  Is of Cologne, I Thomas of Aquinum.

If thou of all the others wouldst be certain,
  Follow behind my speaking with thy sight
  Upward along the blessed garland turning.

That next effulgence issues from the smile
  Of Gratian, who assisted both the courts
  In such wise that it pleased in Paradise.

The other which near by adorns our choir
  That Peter was who, e'en as the poor widow,
  Offered his treasure unto Holy Church.

The fifth light, that among us is the fairest,
  Breathes forth from such a love, that all the world
  Below is greedy to learn tidings of it.

Within it is the lofty mind, where knowledge
  So deep was put, that, if the true be true,
  To see so much there never rose a second.

Thou seest next the lustre of that taper,
  Which in the flesh below looked most within
  The angelic nature and its ministry.

Within that other little light is smiling
  The advocate of the Christian centuries,
  Out of whose rhetoric Augustine was furnished.

Now if thou trainest thy mind's eye along
  From light to light pursuant of my praise,
  With thirst already of the eighth thou waitest.

By seeing every good therein exults
  The sainted soul, which the fallacious world
  Makes manifest to him who listeneth well;

The body whence 'twas hunted forth is lying
  Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom
  And banishment it came unto this peace.

See farther onward flame the burning breath
  Of Isidore, of Beda, and of Richard
  Who was in contemplation more than man.

This, whence to me returneth thy regard,
  The light is of a spirit unto whom
  In his grave meditations death seemed slow.

It is the light eternal of Sigier,
  Who, reading lectures in the Street of Straw,
  Did syllogize invidious verities."

Then, as a horologe that calleth us
  What time the Bride of God is rising up
  With matins to her Spouse that he may love her,

Wherein one part the other draws and urges,
  Ting! ting! resounding with so sweet a note,
  That swells with love the spirit well disposed,

Thus I beheld the glorious wheel move round,
  And render voice to voice, in modulation
  And sweetness that can not be comprehended,

Excepting there where joy is made eternal.