Vita Nuova (XXIII) ~ Dante Alighieri

Death takes Beatrice

Evelyn Paul

Vita nuova (XXIII, 1-31)

(1) A few days after this it happened that my body was afflicted by a painful disease which made me suffer intense anguish continuously for nine days; I became so weak that I was forced to lie in bed like a person paralyzed.

(2) Now, on the ninth day, when the pain was almost unbearable, a thought came to me which was about my lady.

(3) After thinking about her awhile, I returned to thoughts of my feeble condition and, realizing how short life is, even if one is healthy, I began to weep silently about the misery of life. Then, sighing deeply, I said to myself: "It is bound to happen that one day the most gracious Beatrice will die."

(4) At that, such a frenzy seized me that I closed my eyes and, agitated like one in delirium, began to imagine things: as my mind started wandering, there appeared to me certain faces of ladies with dishevelled hair, and they were saying to me: "You are going to die." And then after these ladies there appeared to me other faces strange and horrible to look at, who were saying: "You are dead."

(5) While my imagination was wandering like this, I came to the point that I no longer knew where I was. And I seemed to see ladies preternaturally sad, their hair dishevelled, weeping as they made their way down a street. And I seemed to see the sun grow dark, giving the stars a color that would have made me swear that they were weeping. And it seemed to me that the birds flying through the air fell to earth dead, and there were violent earthquakes.

(6) Bewildered as I dreamed, and terrified, I imagined that a friend of mine came to tell me: "Then you don't know? Your miraculous lady has departed from this world." At that I began to weep most piteously, and I wept not only in my dream, I wept with my eyes, wet with real tears.

(7) I imagined that I looked up at the sky, and I seemed to see a multitude of angels returning above, and they had before them a little purewhite cloud. It seemed to me that these angels were singing in glory, and the words of their song seemed to be: Osanna in excelsis; the rest I could not seem to hear.

(8) Then it seemed that my heart, which was so full of love, said to me: "It is true, our lady lies dead." And hearing that, it seemed to me I went to see the body in which that most noble and blessed soul had dwelt, and in the intensity of my hallucination I saw this lady dead. And it seemed that ladies were covering her head with a white veil, and her face seemed to have an expression of such joyous acceptance that it said to me: "I am contemplating the fountainhead of peace."

(9) At the sight of her in this dream I felt such a serenity that I called upon Death and said: "Sweet Death, come to me. Do not be unkind to me: you should be gracious, considering where you have just been. So, come to me, for I earnestly desire you, and you can see that I do, for I already wear your color."

(10) And when I had witnessed the administering of the sorrowful rites customarily performed on the bodies of the dead, it seemed I returned to my room and from there looked toward Heaven, and so vivid was my dream that, weeping, I began to speak aloud: "O most beautiful soul, how blessed is he who beholds you!"

(11) As I was saying these words in a spasm of tears, calling upon Death to come to me, a young and gracious lady, who had been at my bedside, thought that my tears and words were caused by the pain of my illness, and greatly frightened began to weep.

(12) Then other ladies who were about the room became aware of my weeping because of her reaction to me. After sending away this lady, who was most closely related to me, they drew near to wake me, thinking that I was having a dream, and said to me: "You must wake up" and "Do not be afraid."

(13) And with these words of theirs my wild imaginings were cut off just when I was about to say: "Oh, Beatrice, blessed art thou," and I had already said: "Oh, Beatrice," when I opened my eyes with a start and realized that it had been only a dream. Although I had called out this name, my voice was so broken by my sobbing that I think these ladies were not able to understand what I said. Even though I was very much ashamed, still, somehow prompted by Love, I turned my face toward them.

(14) And when they saw me, they began saying: "He looks as if he were dead!" And they said to each other: "Let us try to comfort him." And so they said many things to comfort me, and then they asked me what it was that had frightened me.

(15) Being somewhat comforted, aware that nothing was true of what I had imagined, I answered them: "I will tell you what happened to me." Then I began at the beginning and continued to the end, telling them what I had seen but without mentioning the name of the most gracious one.

(16) After I had recovered from my illness, I decided to write about what had happened to me, since it seemed to me this would be something fascinating to hear about. And so I composed the canzone which begins: A lady of tender years; it is constructed in a manner made clear in the divisions that follow it.

(17) A lady of tender years, compassionate and richly graced with human gentleness, was standing near and heard me call on Death; she saw the piteous weeping of my eyes and heard the wild confusing words I spoke; she was so struck with fear she wept aloud.

(18) Then other ladies, made aware of me by the weeping figure standing by my bed, sent her away from there; and they drew near to rouse me from my sleep. One of them said: "Wake up!" Another asked: "Why are you so distressed?" With this I left my world of dreams and woke, calling aloud the name of my sweet lady.

(19) I called to her in a voice so weak with pain, so broken by my tears and anguished sobs, that only my heart heard her name pronounced. In spite of my deep-felt humiliation which showed itself most plainly on my face, Love made me turn and look up at these ladies.

(20) The pallor of my skin amazed them so they could not help but start to speak of death. "Oh, let us comfort him," implored one lady sweetly of another; and more than once they asked: "What did you see that took away your strength?" When I felt comforted somewhat, I said: "Ladies, now you shall know what I have seen:

(21) While I was brooding on my languid life, and sensed how fleeting is our little day, Love wept within my heart, which is his home; then my bewildered soul went numb with fear, and sighing deep within myself, I said: 'My lady someday surely has to die.'

(22) Then I surrendered to my anguished thoughts, and closed my heavy wept-out tired eyes, and all my body's spirits went drifting off, each fainting in despair. And then, drifting and dreaming, with consciousness and truth left far behind, I saw the looks of ladies wild with wrath, chanting together: 'Die, you are going to die.'

(23) Now captured by my false imaginings and somehow in a place unknown to me, I was the witness of unnatural things: of ladies passing with dishevelled hair, some weeping, others wailing their laments that pierced the air like arrows tipped in flame.

(24) And then it seemed to me I saw the sun grow slowly darker, and a star appear, and sun and star did weep; birds flying through the air fell dead to earth; the earth began to quake. A man appeared, pale, and his voice was weak as he said to me: 'You have not heard the news? Your lady, once so lovely, now lies dead.'

(25) I raised my weeping eyes to look above and saw what seemed to be a rain of manna: angels who were returning to their home; in front of them they had a little cloud and sang 'Hosanna' as they rose with it (had there been other words, I would have told you).

(26) Then I heard Love: 'I shall no longer hide the truth from you. Come where our lady lies.' My wild imaginings led me to see my lady lying dead; I looked at her, and then ladies were drawing a veil over her face. She had an air of joyful resignation; it was as if she said: 'I am in peace.'

(27) Then I became so humble in my sorrow, seeing, in her, humility incarnate, that I could say: 'O, Death, I hold you dear; from now on you should put on graciousness and change your scorn to sympathy for me, since in my lady you have been at home. See how I yearn to be one of your own: I even look the way you would, alive. Come, for my heart implores you!'

(28) When the last rites were done, I left that place, and when I was alone, I raised my eyes toward Heaven, and declared: 'Blessed is he who sees you, lovely soul!' You called to me just then, and I am grateful."

(29) This canzone has two sections. In the first, speaking to some unidentified person, I tell how I was aroused from a delirious dream by certain ladies, and how I promised to relate it to them; in the second I report what I told them. The second begins: While I was brooding.

(30) The first section divides into two parts: in the first I tell what certain ladies, and one particular lady, moved by my delirious state, said and did before I had returned to full consciousness; in the second I report what these ladies said to me after I had come out of my frenzy, and this part begins: I called to her.

(31) Then when I say: While I was brooding, I relate what I told them about my dream. And this section has two parts: in the first I describe the dream from beginning to end; in the second I tell at what point I was called by these ladies and, choosing my words discreetly, I thank them for waking me. And this part begins: You called to me.