(172) If I weep, I cease to praise and magnify thee." He spoke thus, and then fell to weeping, So many "Ahs" and "Alases" proceeded from his heart, Talking sadly, weeping sadly, smiling sadly, Men and women, small and great, were all assembled. The whole city wept in concert with him; Then Heaven said to Earth, "If you never saw a resurrection-day, see it here!" Reason was amazed, saying, "What love, what ecstasy! Is his separation more wondrous, or his reunion?"

(12) He said, "I am a drawer of water; water attracts me, No drawer of water flees from water, Though it may make my hand and belly dropsical, I should say, when they asked me about my belly, 'Would that the ocean might flow into it!' Though the bottle of my belly were burst with water, And though I should die, my death would be acceptable. Wheresoever I see one seeking water, I envy him, And cry, 'Would I were in his place!' My hand is a tabor and my belly a drum,

(42) How shall I not be in the number of those bewitched by Him? How shall I be other than night without His day? Without the vision of His face that illumes the day? His bitters are very sweets to my soul, I am enamoured of my own grief and pain, I use the dust of my grief as salve for my eyes, That my eyes, like seas, may teem with pearls. The tears which are shed because of His chastening Are very pearls, though men deem them mere tears. 'Tis "The Soul of souls" of whom I am making complaint;

(4) "Look at me well; in sooth I'm Beatrice! How didst thou deign to come unto the Mountain? Didst thou not know that man is happy here?" Mine eyes fell downward into the clear fountain, But, seeing myself therein, I sought the grass, So great a shame did weigh my forehead down. As to the son the mother seems superb, So she appeared to me; for somewhat bitter Tasteth the savour of severe compassion. Silent became she, and the Angels sang Suddenly, "In te, Domine, speravi:" But beyond 'pedes meos' did not pass. Even as the snow among the living rafters Upon the back of Italy congeals, Blown on and drifted by Sclavonian winds, And then, dissolving, trickles through itself Whene'er the land that loses shadow breathes, So that it seems a fire that melts a taper; E'en thus was I without a tear or sigh, Before the song of those who sing for ever After the music of the eternal spheres. But when I heard in their sweet melodies Compassion for me, more than had they said, "O wherefore, lady, dost thou thus upbraid him?"

(5) This Whole Heart of mine remaineth weeping over itself in presence of Osiris

(4) But of this water it behoves thee drink Before so great a thirst in thee be slaked." Thus said to me the sunshine of mine eyes; And added: "The river and the topazes Going in and out, and the laughing of the herbage, Are of their truth foreshadowing prefaces; Not that these things are difficult in themselves, But the deficiency is on thy side, For yet thou hast not vision so exalted." There is no babe that leaps so suddenly With face towards the milk, if he awake Much later than his usual custom is, As I did, that I might make better mirrors Still of mine eyes, down stooping to the wave Which flows that we therein be better made. And even as the penthouse of mine eyelids Drank of it, it forthwith appeared to me Out of its length to be transformed to round. Then as a folk who have been under masks Seem other than before, if they divest The semblance not their own they disappeared in, Thus into greater pomp were changed for me The flowerets and the sparks, so that I saw Both of the Courts of Heaven made manifest.

(118) Here is Lamentation and Woe, Yelling and Crying, and no Deliverance; it is with them as if it did continually thunder and lighten tempestuously.

(5) The ice, that was about my heart congealed, To air and water changed, and in my anguish Through mouth and eyes came gushing from my breast. She, on the right-hand border of the car Still firmly standing, to those holy beings Thus her discourse directed afterwards: "Ye keep your watch in the eternal day, So that nor night nor sleep can steal from you One step the ages make upon their path; Therefore my answer is with greater care, That he may hear me who is weeping yonder, So that the sin and dole be of one measure. Not only by the work of those great wheels, That destine every seed unto some end, According as the stars are in conjunction, But by the largess of celestial graces, Which have such lofty vapours for their rain That near to them our sight approaches not, Such had this man become in his new life Potentially, that every righteous habit Would have made admirable proof in him;

(5) But when this had given me many a hard Blow and Repulse, doubtless from c the Spirit, which had a great longing Yearning towards me, at last I fell into a very deep Melancholy and heavy Sadness, when I beheld and contemplated the great Deep of this World, also the Sun and Stars, the Clouds, Rain and Snow, and considered in my Spirit the whole Creation of this World. [The Holy Spirit.]

(12) ¶When Jesus was come near, he beheld the city (Jerusalem), and wept over it, saying,

(2) "'1. Lord, give ear unto my supplication and let my voice reach unto thee. "'2. Turn not away thy face from me; incline thine ear unto me in the day when I am oppressed; quickly give ear to me on the day when I shall cry unto thee. "'3. For my days are vanished as smoke and my bones are parched as stone. "'4. I am scorched as the grass, and my heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread. "'5. From the voice of my groaning my bones cleaved to my flesh. "'6. I am become as a pelican in the desert; I am become as a screech-owl in the house. "'7. I have passed the night watching; I am become as a sparrow alone on the roof. "'8. My enemies have reviled me all the day long, and they who honour me, have injured me. "'9. For I have eaten ashes instead of my bread and mixed my drink with tears, "'10. Because of thy wrath and thy rage; for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. "'11. My days have declined as a shadow, and I am dried up as the grass, "'12. But thou, O Lord, thou endurest for ever, and thy remembrance unto the generation of generation[s]. "'13. Arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time is come to have mercy upon her; the proper time is come. "'14. Thy servants have longed for her stones, and will take pity on her land. "'15. And the nations will have fear of the name of the Lord, and the kings of the earth have fear of thy sovereignty. "'16. For the Lord will build up Zion and reveal himself in his sovereignty. "17. He hath regarded the prayer of the humble and hath not despised their supplication. "'18. This shall be recorded for another generation, and the people who shall be created will praise the Lord. "'19. Because he hath looked down on his holy height; the Lord hath looked down from the heaven on the earth, "'20. To hear the sighing of those in chains, to loose the sons of those who are slain, "'21. To proclaim the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem.' "This, my Lord, is the solution of the mystery of the repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered."

(162) First hear this, that while I remained in absence, Secondly, hear this. O prince beloved, That I searched much, but found no second to thee. Thirdly, that when I had departed outside thee, Fourthly, when my harvest was burned up, Wheresoever thou findest blood on the roads, Trace it, and 'tis tears of blood from my eyes. My words are thunder, and these sighs and tears Shall I weep, or shall I speak, or what shall I do? If I speak, my weeping ceases;

(42) Sings to me in organ tones, 'To him shall we return.' Like a water-lily seek life there! Yea, like that drawer of water, at the risk of life, Water will be his death, yet he still seeks water, And still drinks on, and God knows what is right. O lover, cold-hearted and void of loyalty, Who from fear for your life shun the beloved! O base one, behold a hundred thousand souls Dancing towards the deadly sword of his love: Behold water in a pitcher; pour it out;

(10) Sleep has deserted my eyes Through my longing for Thee, O Envy of cypresses! Though I be unworthy of Thy favor, how were it If thou shouldst regard the grieves of unworthy me? What claim of right can a non-existent thing make To have the doors of Thy bounty opened to it? Yet Thy bounty had regard to my senseless dust And endued it with the ten jewels of the senses Five external senses and five internal senses,

(5) Because the earliest tears a cluster form, And, in the manner of a crystal visor, Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full. And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, Because of cold all sensibility Its station had abandoned in my face, Still it appeared to me I felt some wind; Whence I: "My Master, who sets this in motion? Is not below here every vapour quenched?" Whence he to me: "Full soon shalt thou be where Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this, Seeing the cause which raineth down the blast." And one of the wretches of the frozen crust Cried out to us: "O souls so merciless That the last post is given unto you, Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart A little, e'er the weeping recongeal." Whence I to him: "If thou wouldst have me help thee Say who thou wast; and if I free thee not, May I go to the bottom of the ice." Then he replied: "I am Friar Alberigo; He am I of the fruit of the bad garden, Who here a date am getting for my fig."

(21) Through grief my days are as labor and sorrow, My days move on, hand in hand with anguish. Yet,, though my days vanish thus, 'tis no matter, Do thou abide, O Incomparable Pure One! But all who are not fishes are soon tired of water; And they who lack daily bread find the day very long; So the "Raw" comprehend not the state of the "Ripe;" Arise, O son! burst thy bonds and be free! How long wilt thou be captive to silver and gold? Though thou pour the ocean into thy pitcher,

(14) As it says that, on the day when the righteous man is parted from the wicked, the tears of every one, thereupon, run down unto his legs.

(3) I saw one made in fashion of a lute, If he had only had the groin cut off Just at the point at which a man is forked. The heavy dropsy, that so disproportions The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts, That the face corresponds not to the belly, Compelled him so to hold his lips apart As does the hectic, who because of thirst One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns. "O ye, who without any torment are, And why I know not, in the world of woe," He said to us, "behold, and be attentive Unto the misery of Master Adam; I had while living much of what I wished, And now, alas! a drop of water crave. The rivulets, that from the verdant hills Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, Making their channels to be cold and moist, Ever before me stand, and not in vain; For far more doth their image dry me up Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. The rigid justice that chastises me Draweth occasion from the place in which I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight.

(4) Thus do I suffer; and the deep stain of calamity Ever stirs me from the depths, agitated By the bitter stings of rage."