Beowulf

                        ... no weapons, therefore,

for either this night: unarmed he shall face me

if face me he dares. And may the Divine Lord

in His wisdom grant the Glory of Victory

to whichever side He sees fit.






From "Beowulf", (Lines  683 - 687)
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
Beowulf
Translation  Seamus Heaney  (1939 - 2013)

Clave de Sol

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Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) : "The Divine Comedy"

     

      My will on will to climb above was such

that at each step I took I felt the force

within my wings was growing for the flight.

      When all the staircase lay beneath us and 

we'd reached the highest step, then Virgil set

his eyes insistently on me and said:

      "My son, you've seen the temporary fire

and the eternal fire; you have reached

the place past which my powers cannot see.

      I've brought you here through intellect and art;

from now on, let your pleasure be your guide;

you're past the steep and past the narrow paths.   

      Look at the sun that shines upon your brow;

look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs

born here, spontaneously, of the earth.

      Among them, you can rest or walk until

the coming of the glad and lovely eyes -

those eyes that, weeping, sent me to your side.

      Await no further word or sign from me:

your will is free, erect, and whole - to act

against that will would be to err: therefore

      I crown and miter you over yourself."

From "The Divine Comedy"

Purgatory, Canto XXVII
Everyman's Library
The Divine Comedy

Translation Allen Mandelbaum (1926 - 2011)

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) : "The Divine Comedy"

                                                        
                                                         
                                                         all these

     would seem nothing if set beside the godly

beauty that shone upon me when I turned

to see the smiling face of Beatrice.

     The powers that her gaze now granted me

drew me out of the lovely nest of Leda

and thrust me into heaven's swiftest sphere.

     Its parts were so equally alive

and excellent, that I cannot say which

place Beatrice selected for my entry.

     But she , who saw what my desire was -

her smile had so much gladness that within

her face there seemed to be God's joy - began:

    "The nature of the universe, which holds

the center still and moves all else around it,

begins here as if from its turning-post.

     This heaven has no other where than this:

the mind of God, in which are kindled both

the love that turns it and the force it rains.

     As in a circle, light and love enclose it,

as it surrounds the rest - and that enclosing,

only He who encloses understands. 

     No other heaven measures this sphere's motion,

but it serves as the measure of the rest,

even as half and fifth determine ten;

     and now it can be evident to you

how time has roots within this vessel and,  

within the other vessels, has its leaves.

                   white skin turns black when it is struck 

by direct light - the lovely daughter of

the one who brings us dawn and leaves us evening.

     That you not be amazed at what I say,

consider this: on earth no king holds sway;

therefore, the family of humans strays.

     But well before nine thousand years have passed

(and January is unwintered by

day's hundredth part, which they neglect below),

     this high sphere shall shine so, that Providence,

long waited for, will turn the sterns to where

the prows now are, so that the fleet runs straight;

     and then fine fruit shall follow on the flower."

From "The Divine Comedy"

Paradiso, Canto XXVII

Everyman's Library
The Divine Comedy

Translation Allen Mandelbaum (1926 - 2011)

Blade of Light

The sun has drawn a fine-tempered blade

  of  light. We may as well surrender.

Verse from "RUMI - Bridge to The Soul"

Edited and Translated Coleman Barks 2007

Harper Collins Publishers 

RUMI - Bridge to The Soul

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