And in his hand he had a naked sword, Which so reflected back the sunbeams tow’rds us, That oft in vain I lifted up mine eyes. “Tell it from where you are, what is’t you wish?” Began he to exclaim; “where is the escort? Take heed your coming hither harm you not!” “A Lady of Heaven, with these things conversant,” My Master answered him, “but even now Said to us, ‘Thither go; there is the portal.’ ” “And may she speed your footsteps in all good,” Again began the courteous janitor; “Come forward then unto these stairs of ours.” Thither did we approach; and the first stair 690 Was marble white, so polished and so smooth, I mirrored myself therein as I appear. The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse, 691 Was of a calcined and uneven stone, Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across. The third, that uppermost rests massively, Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red As blood that from a vein is spirting forth. Both of his feet was holding upon this