ourse to thee, wishes his desire to
fly without wings. Thy benignity not only succors him who asks, but
oftentimes freely foreruns the asking. In thee mercy, in thee pity, in
thee magnificence, in thee whatever of goodness is in any creature, are
united. Now doth this man, who, from the lowest abyss of the universe,
far even as here, has seen one by one the lives of spirits, supplicate
thee, through grace, for virtue such that he may be able with his eyes
to uplift himself higher toward the Ultimate Salvation. And I, who never
for my own vision burned more than I do for his, proffer to thee all my
prayers, and pray that they be not scant, that with thy prayers thou
wouldst dissipate for him every cloud of his mortality, so that the
Supreme Pleasure may be displayed to him. Further I pray thee, Queen,
who canst what so thou wilt, that, after so great a vision, thou wouldst
preserve his affections sound. May thy guardianship vanquish human
impulses. Behold Beatrice with all the blessed for my prayers clasp
their hands to thee."

The eyes beloved and revered by God, fixed on the speaker, showed to us
how pleasing unto her are devout prayers. Then to the Eternal Light were
they directed, on which it is not to be believed that eye so clear is
turned by any creature.

And I, who to the end of all desires was approaching, even as I ought,
ended within myself the ardor of my longings. Bernard was beckoning to
me, and was smiling, that I should look upward; but I was already, of my
own accord, such as he wished; for my sight, becoming pure, was entering
more and more through the radiance of the lofty Light which of itself is
true.[44]

Thenceforward my vision was greater than our speech, which yields to
such a sight, and the memory yields to such excess.

As is he who dreaming sees, and after the dream the passion remains
imprinted, and the rest returns not to the mind, such am I; for my
vision almost wholly fails, while the sweetness that was born of it yet
distills within my heart. Thus the snow is by the sun unsealed; thus on
the wind, in the light leaves, was lost the saying of the Sibyl.

O Supreme Light, that so high upliftest Thyself from mortal conceptions,
re-lend a little to my mind of what Thou didst appear, and make my
tongue so powerful that it may be able to leave one single spark of Thy
glory for the future people; for by returning somewhat to my memory and
by sounding a little in these verses, more of Thy vi