PARADISE. Alasdair Gray

      

      First published in Great Britain, the USA and

      Canada in 2020 by Canongate Books Ltd,

      14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE

      Distributed in the USA by Publishers Group West and in Canada by Publishers Group Canada

       canongate.co.uk

      This digital edition first published in 2020 by Canongate Books

      Copyright © Alasdair Gray, 2020

      The right of Alasdair Gray to be identified as the

      author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance

       with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

      The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Creative Scotland towards the publication of this book

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

      ISBN 978 1 78689 474 8

      eISBN 978 1 78689 477 9

      LIST OF CANTOS

       1 The First Ascent

       2 Moon Sphere

       3 In the Moon

       4 More Moonlight

       5 Free Will and Mercury

       6 Justinian

       7 Beatrice Explains

       8 Venus

       9 Prophecies

       10 The Sun

       11 Of Francis

       12 Of Dominic

       13 Sun Wisdom

       14 From Sun to Mars

       15 Martial Hero

       16 Old Families

       17 Dante’s Future

       18 From Mars to Jupiter page

       19 The Eagle Speaks

       20 The Eagle’s Eye

       21 Saturn

       22 Saint Benedict

       23 The Fixed Stars

       24 Saint Peter

       25 Saint James and John

       26 Saint John

       27 To the Empyrean

       28 The Angelic Sphere

       29 Of the Angels

       30 The Empyrean

       31 Heavenly Hosts

       32 The Rose’s Plan

       33 Prayer and Answer

      1: The First Ascent

      1 God’s glory moves and shows the universe

      shining in some parts more, in others less.

      I entered Heaven with joy too great for speech

      4 to glorify his light. I can recall

      only dim shadows of it now

      within this song. All you nine muses

      7 led by Virgil helped me evoke the steep

      descent to Hell and climb to reach this height.

      Sun-king Apollo too inspired their aid!

      10 I beg you, please give me such strength again,

      turn me into a perfect voice to sing

      of Heaven’s grandest things and crown myself

      13 with laurels, the one headgear fit for use

      by a true poet or great conqueror.

      Their fewness demonstrates in human kind

      16 a shameful lack of will. If I succeed,

      like spark from which flames leap, some after me

      may be inspired to write with greater skill.

      19 The sunrise greets us most days of the year

      from several degrees to north or south.

      When solar orbit touches other rings

      (equators earthly and celestial, 22

      ecliptic and the equinoctial)

      four circles make three crosses and so bring

      more harmony, and Summer can begin. 25

      The sun this morning rose at that good point.

      When Beatrice looked up at height of noon

      no eagle ever fixed upon the sun 28

      a gaze as clear, and since reflected