28.16 I saw a point that sent forth so acute
a light, that anyone who faced the force
with which it blazed would have to shut his eyes,….
28.22 Around that point a ring of fire wheeled,
a ring perhaps as far from that point as
a halo from the star that colors it
28.25 when mist that forms the halo is most thick.
It wheeled so quickly that it would outstrip
the motion that most swiftly girds the world.
28.28 That ring was circled by a second ring,
the second by a third, third by a fourth,
fourth by a fifth, and fifth ring by a sixth.
28.31 Beyond, the seventh ring, which followed, was
so wide that all of Juno’s messenger
would be too narrow to contain that circle.
28.34 The eighth and ninth were wider still; and each,
even as greater distance lay between
it and the first ring, moved with lesser speed;
28.37 and, I believe, the ring with clearest flame
was that which lay least far from the pure spark
because it shares most deeply that point’s truth.
28.40 My lady, who saw my perplexity—
I was in such suspense—said: “On that Point
depend the heavens and the whole of nature.
