Translated From the Italian of Dante (“Purgatorio,” Canto VIII., v. 43-84).
AGAIN Sordello spoke– “Into this dell,
Among the mighty Dead, now let us go;
The sight of thee will please the spirits well.
In but three steps, meseems, I was below,
And gazing on me only, one came nigh,
Attent, as though my face he fain would know.
It was the time when eve englooms the sky,
Yet not so dusk but that a closer view
Made clear the darkling path from eye to eye.
Noble Judge Nino, how I gloried when
I saw thou wast not with the damn?d crew!
All words of courteous greeting spake we; then
He asked–“How long since camest thou to us
Beneath this mount, o’er seas beyond our ken?”
“I came by those dread regions dolorous
This morning, with my first life undecayed,
In hope to gain the second, journeying thus.”
And when they heard this answer that I made
He and Sordello shrank back, as in fear,
Like folk by sudden wonder all dismayed.
This turned toward Virgil–that, to one who near
Was sitting, cried–“Up, Conrad, from thy place;
What God in mercy wills, come and see and hear!”
Then to me turning–“By that special grace
Granted to thee by Him, who from our sense
Conceals his primal Why, which none may trace–
When thou shalt pass beyond the seas, far hence,
Say to my little Joan, she must implore
For me, where heed is given to innocence.
Her mother loves me, so I think, no more,
Since she has cast aside the fillet white,
Which, heart-sick, she shall wish that still she wore.
From her thou mayest understand aright
How long will burn the fire of woman’s love
Not kindled fresh by daily touch and sight.
Less nobly will her funeral pageant move
Beneath the Milan warrior’s viper-shield
Than were Gallura’s cock emblazed above.”
Such words he uttered, seeming stamped and sealed
With that just ardour, whose attempered heat
His heart still cherished, and his face revealed.
(Constance Naden)
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Based on Topics: Time Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Place Poems, Fire Poems, Hope Poems, Fear Poems, Morning Poems, Woman Poems, Forgiveness Poems, Innocence PoemsBased on Keywords: milan, gloried, meseems, canto, camest, heart-sick, cried-, fillet, conrad, attent, undecayed