Chapter XXII

Not many days after this (it being the will of the most High God, who also from Himself put not away death), the father of wonderful Beatrice, going out of this life, passed certainly into glory. Thereby it happened, as of very sooth it might not be otherwise, that this lady was made full of the bitterness of grief: seeing that such a parting is very grievous unto those friends who are left, and that no other friendship is like to that between a good parent and a good child; and furthermore considering that this lady was good in the supreme degree, and her father (as by many it hath been truly averred) of exceeding goodness. And because it is the usage of that city that men meet with men in such a grief, and women with women, certain ladies of her companionship gathered themselves unto Beatrice, where she kept alone in her weeping: and as they passed in and out, I could hear them speak concerning her, how she wept. At length two of them went by me, who said: “Certainly she grieveth in such sort that one might die for pity, beholding her.” Then, feeling the tears upon my face, I put up my hands to hide them: and had it not been that I hoped to hear more concerning her (seeing that where I sat, her friends passed continually in and out), I should assuredly have gone thence to be alone, when I felt the tears come. But as I still sat in that place, certain ladies again passed near me, who were saying among themselves: “Which of us shall be joyful any more, who have listened to this lady in her piteous sorrow?” And there were others who said as they went by me: “He that sitteth here could not weep more if he had beheld her as we have beheld her;” and again: “He is so altered that he seemeth not as himself.” And still as the ladies passed to and fro, I could hear them speak after this fashion of her and of me.

Wherefore afterwards, having considered and perceiving that there was herein matter for poesy, I resolved that I would write certain rhymes in the which should be contained all that those ladies had said. And because I would willingly have spoken to them if it had not been for discreetness, I made in my rhymes as though I had spoken and they had answered me. And thereof I wrote two sonnets; in the first of which I addressed them as I would fain have done; and in the second related their answer, using the speech that I had heard from them, as though it had been spoken unto myself. And the sonnets are these:—

You that thus wear a modest countenance With lids weigh’d down by the heart’s heaviness, Whence come you, that among you every face Appears the same, for its pale troubled glance? Have you beheld my lady’s face, perchance, Bow’d with the grief that Love makes full of grace? Say now, “This thing is thus;” as my heart says, Marking your grave and sorrowful advance. And if indeed you come from where she sighs And mourns, may it please you (for his heart’s relief) To tell how it fares with her unto him Who knows that you have wept, seeing your eyes, And is so grieved with looking on your grief That his heart trembles and his sight grows dim.

This sonnet is divided into two parts. In the first, I call and ask these ladies whether they come from her, telling them that I think they do, because they return the nobler. In the second, I pray them to tell me of her; and the second begins here, “And if indeed.”

Canst thou indeed be he that still would sing Of our dear lady unto none but us? For though thy voice confirms that it is thus, Thy visage might another witness bring. And wherefore is thy grief so sore a thing That grieving thou mak’st others dolorous? Hast thou too seen her weep, that thou from us Canst not conceal thine inward sorrowing? Nay, leave our woe to us: let us alone: ’Twere sin if one should strive to soothe our woe, For in her weeping we have heard her speak: Also her look’s so full of her heart’s moan That they who should behold her, looking so, Must fall aswoon, feeling all life grow weak.

This sonnet has four parts, as the ladies in whose person I reply had four forms of answer. And, because these are sufficiently shown above, I stay not to explain the purport of the parts, and therefore I only discriminate them. The second begins here, “And wherefore is thy grief;” the third here, “Nay, leave our woe;” the fourth, “Also her look.”