DANTE'S INFERNO

Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries
were echoing across the starless air,
so that, as soon as I, Dante, set out, I wept.

Strange utterances, horrible pronouncements,
accents of anger, words of suffering,
and voice shrill and faint, and beating hands.

All went to make a tumult that will whirl
forever through that turbid, timeless air,
like sand that eddies when a whirlwind swirls.

And I – my head oppressed by horror – said:
“Master, Virgil, what is it that I hear?
Who are those people so defeated
by their pain?”

And he to me: “This miserable way
is taken by the sorry souls of those
who lived without disgrace and without praise.

They now commingle with the coward angels,
the company of those who were not rebels
nor faithful to their God, but stood apart.

The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened,
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell
receive them – even the wicked cannot
glory in them.”

And I: “What is it, master, that oppresses
these souls, compelling them to wail
so loudly?”

He answered: “I shall tell you in few words.

Those who are here can place no hope in death,
and their blind life is so abject that they
are envious of every other fate.

The world will let no fame of theirs endure;
both justice and compassion must disdain them;
let us not talk of them, but look and pass.”

And I, looking more closely, saw a banner
that, as it wheeled about, raced on – so quick
that any respite seemed unsuited to it.

Behind that banner trailed so long a file
of people – I should never have believed
that death could have unmade so many souls.

After I had identified a few, I saw
and recognized the shade of him who made, through cowardice, the great refusal.

At once I understood with certaintly:
this company contrained the cowardly,
hateful to God and to His enemies.

These wretched ones, who never were alive,
went naked and were stung again, again
by horseflies and by wasps that circled them.

The insects streaked their faces with their blood, which, mingled with their tears,
fell at their feet, where it was gathered up
by sickening worms.

 

 

 

Image Ownership Credits
Next Prayer
Prayer Index
Website Home