Legends, Tales and Poems

V (2)

Por una escala[1] misteriosa viÓ bajar las almas Á la tierra; viÓ bajar muchas, y subir pocas.[2] Cada una de aquellas almas inocentes iba acompaÑada de un arcÁngel purÍsimo que le cubrÍa con la sombra de sus alas. Los que tornaban solos, tornaban en silencio y con lÁgrimas en los ojos; los que no, subÍan cantando como suben las alondras en las maÑanas de Abril?[3]

[Footnote 1: escala. Dante mentions a similar stairway in canto XXII of the Paradiso, and intimates that the vision of it is disclosed only to true mystics.

He thereupon: "Brother, thy high desire
In the remotest sphere shall be fulfilled,
Where are fulfilled all others and my own.

There perfect is, and ripened, and complete,
Every desire; within that one alone
Is every part where it has always been;

For it is not in space, nor turns on poles,
And unto it our stairway reaches up,
thus from out thy sight it steals away.

Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it
Extending its supernal part, whst time
So thronged with angels it appeared to him.

But to ascend it now no one uplifts
His feet from off the earth...."

Longfellow's translation.]

[Footnote 2: pocas. Because, in comparison with the number of souls born into earthly bodies, but few escape the snares of evil and rise again to their original state of innocence.]

[Footnote 3: Though the idea is somewhat different, there is a certain parallelism in the picture evoked by the closing verses of Rossetti's poem "The Blessed Damozel." The Damozel is represented as waiting for her lover on the ramparts of heaven.

She gazed and listened and then said,
Less sad of speech than mild,—

"All this is when he comes." She ceased.
The light thrilled towards her, fill'd

With angels in strong level flight.
Her eyes prayed, and she smiled.

(I saw her smile.) But soon their path
Was vague in distant spheres:

And then she cast her arms along
The golden barriers,

And laid her face between her hands,
And wept. (I heard her tears.)]

DespuÉs las tinieblas rosadas y azules que flotaban en el espacio, como cortinas de gasa transparente, se rasgaron como el dÍa de gloria[1] se rasga en nuestros templos el velo de los altares, y el paraÍso de los justos se ofreciÓ Á sus miradas deslumbrador y magnifico.[2]

[Footnote 1: el dÍa de gloria. Called also SÁbado de gloria, 'Holy Saturday.' "During the last two weeks of Lent, the pictures and statues throughout the Catholic Church are covered by a purple cloth and uncovered on Holy Saturday. In parts of Spain this unveiling is effected suddenly by rending them with a spear or lance, so as to reveal all the pictures and statues at the same time." Hence the comparison.]

[Footnote 2: Read Dante's description in canto XXXII of the Paradiso]

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