| 67 |
I said: Hope is the certain expectation |
| 68 |
of future glory; it is the result |
| 69 |
of God's grace and of merit we have earned. 1 |
| |
| 70 |
This light has come to me from many stars;
|
| 71 |
but he who first instilled it in my heart
|
| 72 |
was the chief singer of the Sovereign Guide.
|
| |
| 73 |
'May those'-he says within his theody |
| 74 |
'who know Your name, put hope in You'; and if
|
| 75 |
one has my faith, can he not know God's name?
|
| |
| 76 |
And just as he instilled, you then instilled
|
| 77 |
with your Epistle, so that I am full |
| 78 |
and rain again your rain on other souls. 2 |
| |
| 79 |
While I was speaking, in the living heart
|
| 80 |
of that soul-flame there came a trembling flash,
|
| 81 |
sudden, repeated, just as lightning cracks. 3
|
| |
| 82 |
Then it breathed forth: The love with which I still
|
| 83 |
burn for the virtue that was mine until |
| 84 |
the palm and my departure from the field,
|
| |
| 85 |
would have me breathe again to you who take
|
| 86 |
such joy in hope; and I should welcome words
|
| 87 |
that tell what hope has promised unto you.
|
| |
| 88 |
And I: The new and ancient Scriptures set
|
| 89 |
the mark for souls whom God befriends; for me,
|
| 90 |
that mark means what is promised us by hope.
|
| |
| 91 |
Isaiah says that all of the elect |
| 92 |
shall wear a double garment in their land: 4 |
| 93 |
and their land is this sweet life of the blessed.
|
| |
| 94 |
And where your brother treats of those white robes, 5
|
| 95 |
he has with words direct and evident |
| 96 |
made clear to us Isaiah's revelation. |
| |
| 97 |
At first, as soon as I had finished speaking,
|
| 98 |
Sperent in te 6 was heard above us, all |
| 99 |
the circling garlands answering this call.
|
