Where I Am
So canto 1 is the shortest and needs the most work being only 40 lines (-50)
Canto 3 is nearly right at 88 lines (-2)
Canto 4 is far too short at 48 lines (-42)
Canto 5 is too short at 62 lines (-28) not too bad
Canto 6 comes in short at 60 (-30) and canto 7 is short at 68 lines (-22)
Canto 8 is 10 lines short at 80 (-10)
Canto 9 and 10 come in at 60 (-30,-30)
Canto 11 comes in short at 72 (-18)
Canto 12 is too long at 122 lines (+32)
Canto 13 is too long at 102 (+12)
Canto 14 is 76 lines long (-14)
Canto 15 is 88 lines long (-2) which is more like it
Canto 16 is 86 lines long (-4)
And canto 17 is 90 lines long, which is bang on.
I can't help think that some of the excess in 12 and 13 can be kicked around to help pad out the surrounding verses up to 14. The first few canto's need to be essentially rewritten from the start. They're too damn short, I had originally planned to do each canto down to about 40 or fifty lines but that didn't work out because of their descriptive nature and depth.
Oh well, as far as I can tell I'm about 282 lines in deficit at this point with 44 extra lines to throw about. Hmmmm, that seems a long way from half way.
I'm debating if I should go back now and rewrite the start and add what needs to be added or move on. I'll have to have a think about that today.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
PROJECT DANTE
Canto I
When I was near two score years old 1
I found myself in forest cold
For I was lost, from path I'd strayed
In forest dark with shadows frayed 4
Then from the foot of hill I reached
A path that rose through mountain breached
And almost where the hill did rise
I saw a le0pard thin and lithe 8
And then a lion I beheld
Full ravenous with fearsome head
And then a she-wold showed herself
Her leaness seemed to bring despair 12
This very sight so frightened me
I lost all sense or so it seemed
And having there abandoned hope
Of climbing up that mountain slope 16
That restless beast she stalked me down
Retreated I to lower ground
Before my eyes there then appeared
A vision faint of silence speared 20
A man I saw in vastness wild
'Oh pity me,' were words I cried
'Whatever you may be.' I said
He answered me with ghostly breath 24
'Not man but once before was man
From Lombardy my parent came
Sub Julio I sang the praise
Of Anchises and Troy in flames 28
A poet I was born before
The son of one true God was born.'
'And you are Virgil,' I replied
'The stream of all fair speach,' I cried 32
'It is another path you'll take,'
He answered as he watched me shake
'I think and judge it best for you
To follow me, I'll lead you through.' 36
And so the poet moved away
And followed him to my dark fate
On journey deep he guided me
So soul of mine could be complete 40
Canto III
'Righteous anger made me be 1
My master is divinity'
These words their meaning so unclear
'Abandon hope, who enter here' 4
Inscribed above the gate it read
The words above my quaking head
Had seen and to my master cried
Who looked at me with counting eye 8
'Beyond this gate' he says to me
'A journey through calamity
Now you must set your fear at bay
If you would last this fearsome way 12
For you will see the land of death
Where first to go is intellect
And you must never hesitate
If you would see far heaven's gate' 16
And saying so he took my hand
And entered we among the damned
Whispers strange and dreadful sounds
That seemed to come from neath the ground 20
And beating hands fanned turbid air
For those who failed to choose dwelt there
Then Virgil turned to me and said
With words of fear full dipped in dread 24
'These souls that writhe before your eyes
Are those in life who chose no side
And angels who from conflict strayed
When God and Satan battle made 28
And so from world made black and white
These cowards who chose not to fight
The heavens cast them out in shame
Their greatest sin, they lived in vain'
'But why so loud do these souls wail?'
I asked him with my lips turned pale
He looked at me with hooded gaze
'I'll say it short I can' he says 36
'The world will let no fame endure
Of these poor souls from heaven spurned
Beyond all hope we must disdain
These wretched souls that live in pain' 40
And so the great one quickly passed
As vision on my eyeball cast
A banner moved across the plain
And conga line there chased in vain 44
A million souls and more I saw
And some I knew to break God's law
The sky was filled with wasps and flies
As tears of blood fell from their eyes 48
That rained onto a mess of worms
Which feasted as their bellies churned
Beyond the press of screaming souls
A river cross the landscape flowed
And then I saw the crowded shore
'Who are these souls?' I then implored 54
But Virgil did not answer me
He moved away then beckoned he
And once beside the restless stream
A shape I saw from darkest dream
A boat then sails from out of dark
By Charon helmed with eyes like sparks 60
Then cried he loud in dreadful shout
And gestures as he sorts souls out
'Oh woe to you corrupted souls
By heaven now abandon hope 64
I'll lead you to the other side
To darkness, pain and burning fire'
And then he turns to me and says
'You shall not pass o yee not dead' 68
My guide then Virgil turns to him
And silenced him with sentence grim
Saying 'Charon, don't torment your mind
His passage has been willed you'll find 72
And one should do what one is told
So ferry us cross water cold'
Then silence fell on woolly cheeks
As round him spirits gnashed their teeth 76
And cursed their very lives they did
Then Charon to their fate he bid
I could not grasp this fearful scale
Of evil passed through mortal vale 80
And then the ground began to shake
The red air burned now set ablaze
The burning earth beneath my soles
Was rocking like the Beatles roll 84
And sudden I was in a sweat
As whirlwinds from the pit past swept
My mind recoiled from this foul taint
And keeled I down in sudden faint 88
Canto IV
I woke to heavy thunderclap 1
As if two titans met and clashed
And stood then I and stared around
To see what place had me surround 4
I found myself upon the brink
The burning edge of hell's first ring
And looked I down into abyss
Deep valley that was filled with mist 8
And cries and wails assailed my ears
Moans of sadness dim and drear
Whispers by me slowly drifted
From a crowd of people lifted 12
Children sighed in sadness born
Before the savior crowned in thorns
Guide Virgil leads the way ahead
As followed I in growing dread 16
So we traversed that lonely way
With halting breath I softly prayed
And on the road through Limbo town
I saw a host all spread around 20
'You know the crime for which we dwell
Upon the bitter slopes of hell?'
I answered 'No' as down I climbed
He stumbled then as if struck blind 24
'The only sin we've ever known
Is not to worship God alone
These born before the risen Christ
Salvation lost for un-baptized' 28
'Can none be saved?' I begged to know
He told me this in voice full slow
'When first I came to this foul place
I saw a Lord descend in flames 32
And gathered he the kings of old
Were lifted in his golden robe
And all the lords of Israel past
Were saved as helpless demons gnashed 36
Now thirteen hundred years have gone
And yet poor Virgil lingers on
For always and a day we'll bide
In death beyond the risen Christ' 40
That God would let these souls be damned
In burning pit their spirits crammed
Because they knew not God alone
He cast them from his shining throne 44
So on we walked through hell's first ring
With subjects filled but with no king
And so beyond this Limbo town
We found the gate to second round. 48
Canto V
So then we neared hell's second gate 1
I saw a vision carved from hate
The demon Minas flicked his tail
To whip the damned until they wailed 4
With stripes he left on peoples souls
Their place in hell was bound to roll
Then seeing me the demon cried
'Welcome to hell, the way is wide!' 8
My guide then quickly turned to him
And silenced him with sentence grim
'O Minas don't torment your mind
His passing has been blessed you'll find 12
And one should do just what ones told
So carry us through portal cold'
The demon Minas lashed his tail
But us he could not we assail 16
As walked we through to hell's next round
My ears were numbed by dreadful sound
Saw I a flock of starlings there
Now down now up in burning air 20
In a cloud of millions tattered
Down and out and in they scattered
Screaming all the time in voices
Cursing God for life's poor choices 24
Blown about by hells hot fury
Doomed by God alone, no jury 28
I asked my master 'Who are these'
'Who struggle on this restless breeze?' 32
My master stood with brows crease covered
'Tis the fate for mankind's lovers
See the souls who broke God's laws
Queen of old who scandal caused 36
Cleopatra follows next
Her sinful soul denied all rest
Next the heroes of fair Troy
Immortal souls by cyclone toyed' 40
Ladies great and knights full bold
Were tossed within this blizzard cold
And spied I then some souls I'd known
Who suffered in the tempest blown 44
'Master might I call these two?'
I asked as by me hot wind blow
'I'm sure they'll come' to me replied
So called I then as by they flied 48
So came they over circled me
And listened to my begging plea
'Oh battered souls Inferno blow
How came you to this place most low?' 52
They answered me with heartfelt cry
'Our souls were cast here when we died
While books we'd read of Lancelot
Have cast us out, our souls it cost 56
Though we had loved each other well
It damned us both to live in hell'
They spoke to me of all they were
And wept I then with tears unspared
These gentle souls by God's define
Had desecrate the human shrine 60
My mind recoiled from hellish strain
So down I went in faint again 62
Canto VI
Then upon my minds reviving 1
Found myself on ground reclining
Saw I things that chilled my marrow
Souls immersed in graves foul shallow 4
Blinking back the tears now streaming
Eyes stung blind by blizzard screaming
Hailstones gross and raindrops greasy
Rancid stench makes stomach queasy 8
Under tumbled surface moaning
Spirits of the damned lay groaning
Over these a demon towered
Burning eyes of three heads glowered 12
All the while they scream like dogs
Trapped beneath this stinking bog 14
So Virgil stoops while I in awe
And throws he earth into the maw
Who whimpers like a scalded pup
Then over goes till toes were up 18
So walked we then across this field
Of sinners under water sealed
And Virgil told me who they were
The gluttons who did linger there 22
Then saw I spirit in the distance
Questioned I mirage existence
Figure turns to me fast walking
Starts this gargoyle anguished talking 26
Screams he does his face in pain
Battered by the stinging rain
'Oh you that travel through this hell
Recall me fore I downward fell?' 30
'I can't recall' I answered him
'No person with your visage grim
But tell me sir about your flaw
That cast you out against God's law?' 34
'For gluttony I fell in sin
Beyond all hope of risen King
But tell I tale of city great
Where sickness is the native state 38
I tell you this, within three suns
The walls will shake to many guns'
'What happens to these fractured souls?'
In agony I begged to know 42
'Can none be saved?' I almost raved
'The path to hell is merit paved'
He ghastly said with lips all torn
'No none shall live' to me he warned 46
'I need to know' to him I plead
'My fellows all do God's word heed?'
He looked at me and ghastly said
'They all fell here upon their death 50
Six billions souls and more on earth
But only one or two of worth
For every million doomed to burn
There might be one who heaven earns' 54
He goes all quite and dips his brow
My guide says 'He will rise not now
Until the final judgment come
When answer all to Saviour's drum' 58
Then walking down Inferno's path
He brings us close to Plutus wrath 60
Canto VII
'Pape Satan, Demon Leader!' 1
Plutus screams O fearful reader
There shook I from demons cries
The gentle sage, my noble guide 4
He taps me on the arm and says
'Stay true upon this troubled day
This monster has no power here
So follow we, the way is shear.' 8
Then turned he to the demon there
And silenced him with stinging glare
'Upon your spite let your-self feed
While down we go on journey deep.' 12
So demon drops like wind starved sail
As walked we on to Devil's Dale 14
And found ourselves by purple shore
Where universe of ills are stored 16
And all around us spirits rolled
Great weights that bound their living souls 18
And all of them before me ranged
Would walk about till bumped then change
To turn and push this useless rock
The other way till again was knocked 22
'Why do you waste?', ''Why do you squander?'
They cry in pain as round they wander
'Who are these souls that toil below?'
I asked my guide with voice set low 26
He answered me with sideways look
And then his head he slowly shook
'These souls to left and those to right
Were squint of mind in former life' 30
'Do I know these?' I quickly asked
As looking I with spite on mass
He looked at me and answered thus
'They're all the same that sin has brushed 34
Those misers who endured the fall
Their faces lost beyond recall
They swapped their souls for worthless gold
Now spend their days in toil and scold 38
Ill giving and ill keeping cost
These sinners in this land of sobs
Away with we, no pity here!'
He scolded as he led me clear 42
'O dullard, o paltroon, how dumb can you be
Why Fortune is goddess of destiny's tree!
When God the Almighty the heavens He made
He set Fortune among us to circumstance trade 46
Now all that are born stand on destiny's path
Where your fate she lies wait like a rake in the grass.'
Why then Virgil looks up to check he the time
And says he abruptly 'Now onward we climb.' 50
And so we then toiled to the far distant shore
That filled and spilled from a foaming course
Together by these shadowed waves
That terminate this pathway strange 54
Beside the waters known as Styx
Its surface slimed with spirits slicked
And all of those, against they railed
Their fellows with their arms they flailed 58
And tore each other with their teeth
As legs and hands and heads they beat
'Why here resides,' my guide then says
'Those drawn to rage at every breath 62
And others who did sullen sigh
When air was bright and sun was high.' 64
And so then Virgil gestured on
And skirted me this slimy pond
And as we left by wails were chased
From mire to far towers base 68
Canto VIII
I say, going that long before 1
We reached the distant tower's floor
Our eyes were drawn towards the top
Where fires flashed like burning dots 4
And answer came from distant spire
As flickered there returning fire
Then cross the water comes a boat
That moved as fast as speeding bolt 8
And at its helm one spitting man
Who bears us down as if to ram
And cries he in his dreadful shout
'Now you are caught, O soul without!' 12
But Virgil stands in helmsman's way
And listened I to hear him say
'O Phleg-Yas do not torment your mind
His passing has been blessed you'll find 16
With you and we in binded truce
So ferry us cross muddy sluice.'
Enraged he was the demon red
As one who'd lost on sucker's bet 20
Then Virgil leads me on the boat
As lower then the ferry floats
But Phleg-Yas turns the skiff around
And pointed prow to distant ground 24
A hundred leagues and more did pass
Beneath the speeding demon craft
Then saw I thing before obscene
That rose from mire in between 28
A shade there formed of face I'd known
Com-patriot of distant home
Stares at me as I all shiver
Stands O'Reilly (dreadful sinner!) 32
Screams 'Who are you before your time
That floats across this world of slime?'
I answered him 'O slave of sin
You're looking great, so very thin 36
And I may come and I may go
But after all you'll never know.'*
And then I pulled my trusty Colt
And had him in the cross-hairs locked 40
I shot the fiend in his fiend head
Then spat into the river red
And then my guide, he then rejoiced
As singing raised he up his voice 44
And called he to the heaven's there
With words that burned in blackest air
'This my friend is right, is proper
These foul souls have come a cropper 48
Damned by God, by world forgotten
Curse their souls with curses rotten.'
I to him, 'I'd see him suffer!'
'Underneath this river smothered.' 52
He to me 'You'll get your wish
His torture here provides us bliss!
Our bliss, our bliss, the very joy!
To know his soul is devil toyed.' 56
Continued on to distant gate
Where Phleg-Yas left us to our fate 58
And spikes arose like tongues of flame
Where devils lived and demons reigned.
So stood we there upon the brink
My mind so cowed I could not think 62
And up upon the rampart wall
A thousand devils made the call
'Who is this who without death
Can journey through the land of dread.' 66
My master made a secret sign
That devils knew from former time
Supressed they then their great disdain
These angels who from Heaven rained.** 70
But angel gate would open not
Our path ahead it seemed was blocked
But Virgil turns to me and says
'Now One descends through Lion's Gate.' 74
Who has been charged to clear our way
Till welcome here we must now pray
So knealth we there, with out escape
In fear I wept with mouth agape 78
As parley not the lords of rot
And jeered they from the rampart top. 80
Canto IX
I frosted white in growing fright 1
As sat we there in absent light
My guide beside me troubled seemed
While I beside him lost in dream 4
'Does anyone from Limbo come,'
I asked him then in halting tongue
'As deep as We from Lion's Gate
And so down through this Land of Hate?' 8
And answered me and tale he telled
Of journey to the deeps of Hell
That he had made when new born shade
To Judas Ring, a soul to save 12
'My worthy guide!' I gladly cried
'My road is blessed with you beside!'
And then I choked in sudden fear
As saw I Furies standing clear 16
And screamed they down from highest peak
As cowered I in muck and reek.
'If you would live then shade your eyes
Or always here as boulder lie 20
For Gorgon with her deadly gaze
Will petrify!' My Guide then raves.
And all my knowledge, all my knowing
Couldn't stop blind terror growing 24
And all the things that I believed
Right then weren't worth the fog I breath.
And having nothing left but hearing
Heard I sounds most horrid nearing 28
Then facing fast this coming storm
That sounded like a demon swarm
As spirits screamed in mewling fright
And ever louder grew the blight. 30
My guide then he releases me
And raise myself so I can see
I saw there Angel crossing fast
All shining like a lightning blast 34
His blessed feet not touching water
And all around He demons slaughtered.
Breaks he down the cities door's
His face wrapped up in other chores 38
He barely seemed to notice us
As hung we low with heads like thus
So stands he wide and belows loud
'O You Cast Out, O Hated Crowd! 40
Why do you Fallen listen not
When Betters tell you what is what?
Why do you rail against the fates
That told you to unlock that gate?' 44
My bind could hardly take the strain
As entered we the Land of Pain
At every point I cast my gaze
I see ten thousand burning graves 48
And tortured moans and piteous wails
Sailed past me as we walk this trail. 50
'Who can all these people be?'
I asked in awe at what I see. 52
My master said with steely breath
'Those heretics who dared mock death
They looked at world and thought they saw
A kingdom made without God's Law 56
And so they fry as heretics
In burning graves beyond the Styx.' 58
So walking on he gestures right
As toil we through torment and fright. 60
Canto X
Now followed we a narrow path 1
Between these scenes of pain and wrath
'O Highest Virtue,' I decried
'Can those within the graves be spied?' 4
My master turned and told me then
'Their spirits burn in flame within
And only on the final day
When Armageddon come their way 8
Will flesh that once before was worn
In time to face the Savior's scorn
Within this crematory lies
The ghosts of those who thought when died 12
That soul would cease to be right there
So life best lived without a care
No those who lived by being free
Must burn in hell for eternity.' 16
Then heard I voice cried out in pain
That begged of me to know my name
And asked me from which city came
And why I journeyed through the flame 20
And how I toured this frightful ring
This shade who once before was king
So Virgil turned and led me t0
Where ghost of Nixon rose on through 24
With head held high, with look of scorn
He stared at me as though I worm
'Who were your fathers?' then he asked
As burned he in the fire basked 28
It made me glad for I to know
This sinner to the bad place go
So told him then of who I was
My name, my church, my favorite cause 32
I told the shade and held none back
As listened he from roasting crack
Then lectures me his manner grand
As future there his vision spanned 36
And told me tales of things to come
And battles made to distant drums
He told me then of wars in line
From Friday next to end of time 40
Right then I grasped the fate of soul
The past and future only know
But not the present could they see
Just echoes of the things that be 44
And when the final portal closed
These souls would burn while others rose
So crept I close then to the brink
And looked I into grave I sink 48
My gaze it falls on writhing mass
That cooked within the steaming gas.
One thousand pairs of bloodshot eyes
There locked on mine as watched I fry 52
Then catch my foot and fall head first
Into the burning grave with cursed
But virgil he then caught my bag
And hauled me back, on fumes I gag 56
So Virgil turns and cautions there
'The way is long and far from fair.'
So walk we on through circle sixth
As gathered then an evil stink. 60
Canto XI
We came along a rim like shoulder 1
All ringed around by massive boulders
We found a crowd most cruelly pent
As air was fouled by dreadful stench 4
So down we go and pray to heaven
Before we enter circle seven
In the meantime troubled breathing
Lay against a headstone heaving 8
Names inscribed upon the stone
List the popes from number one
So sat we down to clear the air
As Virgil then some wisdom shared 12
'Beyond this broken ring of stones
Three rings descend to Satan's bones
The six behind were of their sort
But those below this circle fort 16
Reflect the worst that man can be
All locked in pain eternally
The way that hell is crafted here
From top to bottom make it clear 20
Those cowards who from hell without
Then Limbo ring in thickest cloud
Then the lustful in the second
Sex the sin, just for the record 24
Third ring holds those gluttons most
Who sit in stinking rain as ghosts
The fourth ring is the place to be
If you have been consumed by greed 28
The weight of wealth will drag them down
Upon their death to prison round
We then descend to circle five
Where wrathful and the sullen thrive 32
And then we enter circle six
The burning graves beyond the Styx
Now comes the time to draw a line
That separates these different crimes 36
As all below this bitter rim
Are all those damned by deeper sin
The seventh set in circles three
Divided by severity 40
The first reserved for those who kill
And those that rob and things worse still
The next is there for those that die
By their own hand, in hell they fry 44
The last for those who dare blaspheme
In circle third their ass is reamed
And so we come to circle eight
A place arranged for those too late 48
The lawyers and the liars crash
With flatterers and like same trash
The final ring is number nine
The deepest place for deepest crime 52
Those foulest who betrayed their lords
In lake of ice impaled on swords
And so the souls of traitors born
In hells ninth ring by heaven scorned 56
So there it is boy, top to pit
The lay of layered prison split
The sings arranged from least to worst
A place in death for all those cursed 60
Where every sin is marked in line
How foul it was, how base the crime.'
Though glad I was to know the way
That God did punish sin today 64
Then Virgil stands and looks to sky
To see which stars above fly by
And so we leave for lowest levels
Path that leads us to the devil 68
The rings that hold those left behind
We'd set ourselves to it, we'd bind
Our fate to travel down this trail
From now until the end of tail. 72
Canto XII
We reached the edge and I looked down 1
Upon a site all drear and brown
And stretched away a path I saw
That snaked on down to valley floor 4
And there upon the plain below
I saw the Phlegathon past flow
As all around a thousand shapes
That moved across the blasted scape 8
While distant cries and chilling screams
All drifted from that burning stream
As Virgil points to gloom below
And says 'This way we now must go.' 12
On path made by the Risen Christ
When harrowing the Hell he sliced
Right through he did and took he then
The Fathers and the Kings of men 16
So made we then our way down there
As choked I did on stinking air
Then on the rim a nightmare shape
Of infamy, the monster lay 20
And cast his eye about he did
All bright and red beneath its lid
By minotaur our way was blocked
On shattered trail through blasted rock 24
That led us down to circle seven
Reserved for those now God forsaken
Now at its flanks the monster gnashed
With flaming hooves the ground it lashed 28
'Perhaps you think him Ulysses?'
My master to the monster preached
'No matter if you rant and fume
This mortal morsel not for you.' 32
Berserk then goes the Minotaur
As hang we right to valley floor
The path ahead was strewn with bones
That first I had mistook for stones 36
And human skulls filled every crag
In piles of thousands they were stacked
As down the broken slope I stumble
And all around me landscape rumbles 40
Unused it was to living mass
That sent bones down the slope to crash
Unto the distant valley floor
That spied I as I softly swore 44
For standing at the pathway end
I saw a gang of Centaur bend
They did to stare at bones
That skittered past like Rolling Stones 48
And looked they did, and then they speak
'What punishment is it you seek?'
'You see he moves the very rocks?'
Proud Pholus said as moved he hocks 52
Then landed I in tangled heap
In tumble down at Centaur feet
Who drew their bows and further still
With speed they loaded fast with quills 56
Yet Virgil on them quickly gained
And to the Guardians he then explained
'He is no robber, I no thief
But living man would you believe 60
That journeys through this Land of Woe
Where all thats bad is wont to go
Provide us Chiron, with a guide
And kindly let this beggar ride 64
For he is not like you and I
Not dead and so his soul can't fly
Then Chiron turned to Nessus proud
And says he then in voice full loud 68
To guard us and to guide us through
To place where we were going to
So on the Centaurs back I rode
As tales of river red I'm told 72
'See these who sit in boiling flow
These mighty tyrants now do know
The price of all their tyrant crimes
In life most brief, now endless time 76
All sit upon these rocks instead
With bloody flow up to their heads
And every time they gasp for air
An arrow hits them fair and square 80
For Centaurs move in watchful ranks
And guard with bow from deadly bank
And on each arrow flowing writ
'Sic Semper Tyrannis' in tiny script 84
And every arrow found its mark
In Babylon of fernal dark.'
Now further up this bitter stream
I move along in world of dream 88
Where people who did others ill
Might sit midstream up to their gills
While others who did lesser wrongs
Might sit up to their too tight thongs 92
And all of these in pain now learned
That Hell was free but Heaven earned
And all who sat were wont to know
That Hell was not the place to go 96
And of these souls I knew some few
Who steeped within the boiling brew
There Hitler sat up to his brows
With Stalin, Franco, Chairman Mao 100
And Reagan sat up to his lips
And Thatcher sunk up to her tits
And Churchill lurked with belly wide
Immersed beneath the boiling tide 104
There all the kings of Europe past
Into the Phlegathon were cast
While all the souls of Darfur Black
Avenged they were upon that bank 108
Still further now we went down stream
And others saw we bathed in spleen
My master tells me then and there
'This other sort killed Nature fair 112
Now find themselves in screaming throng
Up to their necks in Phlegathon.'
Beside the course our path now lead
The boiling brook beside we tread 116
Then Nessus leads us to a point
Where here and there by shallows joined
And there we over shoals then crossed
Between the burning human dross 120
Then reaching we the other bank
We found ourselves in forest dank 122
Canto XIII
So entered we this forest black 1
Its colors wrong, all out of whack
And Nessus left us find our way
In pathless wood in fear we strayed 4
And all my clothes on briar's torn
All shredded they on curving thorns
And up on top of branches gnarled
There nested Harpies, down they snarled 8
From high on top of highest boughs
I watched them with my twisted brow
Their eyes were cold, with wings so wide
They screamed as heard I round me sighs 12
With dreadful moan that echoes round
The sad lament of hopeless sound
So Virgil turns to say right there
In words that died in stagnant air 16
That we had entered second ring
That Phlegathon around did pin
That stretched on to the burning sands
(Where blasphemous by God were canned.) 20
'Behold this wood and listen now
For source of this infernal row
Just grab a branch and snap it off
To put to rest that train of thought 24
So grabbed I branch and off I tear
And heard I then a pain filled swear
'Oh Cruel-ty, without pity!
Oh why must you most cruel wound me? 28
What once was man but now are stumps
Just flotsam in this forest dumped
For those who have the souls of snakes
Now down in seventh circle staked.' 32
From out of wound there came a voice
Of those who made a bitter choice
'Forgive me please.' my master grieved
To set this wretch upon your tree 36
So tell this fool who once you were
Your name on earth he may repair.'
And so in wood of suicide
I heard a tale that made me cry 40
Of servant who had served his lord
On shifting sands, by act of sword
Then came one day and I was framed
And took my life for sense of shame 44
And ever if you see my master
When you leave this foul disaster
Tell him then of all you know
My self slain soul in hell now sown.' 48
And told him not I seen his boss
A mile before the river cross
Where rested he up to his brows
In burning blood in fate most foul 52
'Now tell him how you can to be,'
My master speaks to moaning tree,
'In second round of seventh maw
And what your dying vision saw.' 56
'I saw a light.' The tree replied
'When first I'd realized I'd died
And then a wind began to blow
That pulled me in on current slow 60
Until it like Katrina blasts
That sucked me down and then was cast
By chance wherever happened fell
On dreadful slopes of seventh hell 64
And when the final day last comes
We'll suffer still with bodies hung
That once we wore, but wear no more
Instead upon our limbs we'll store 68
And hang they then like rotten fruit
Reminder of a dreadful truth
That One should never Oneself kill
Or risk your soul in forest chill.' 72
Before the bush could say some more
We heard a growing distant roar
Then a sudden ground starts shaking
Heard I sounds of branches breaking 76
Sees I two I thought I knew
Come running in with asses blue
Followed by a hundred bitches 79
One of them in pain down pitches 80
And cries he then to fleeing mate
Before by pack of dogs was ate
'You weren't so fast at Nuremberg!'
And then was caught by chasing curs 84
And gobbled up and carried off 85
This sinner by the pack was scoffed
Half a hundred hounds all straying
All the while make dreadful baying 88
Run they off with little pieces
Splattered on their midnight fleeces 90
Heard I low then pain filled moaning
Crept I closer to the groaning
To where I saw a broken bush
That bleeding from it phrases gushed 94
'I am the ghost of Kurt Cobain
By mine own hand was I self slain
Now in this bleeding bush I'm bind
Oh well, whatever, nevermind.' 98
Then Virgil takes my hand and leads
Beyond the wood of tree that bleed
As tears now roll from wounded eye
In silence stumbled as I cried 102
Canto XIV
So led was I to Great Divide 1
The burning sands by God devised
And out upon this dreadful plain
I saw a million fires rain 4
Upon those souls that sinned below
That dared attack the golden throne
In seventh maw third circle round
The souls of others foul be found 8
The fires burned like napalm dropped
On driest thatch or parched crops
In darkest gloom the only light
Was from these burning fires bright 12
As sinners blazed and rolled on sand
To douse what can't be doused by damned
So Virgil turns and leads the way
Not out on burning sand we stray 16
Where flames came down like burning rafts
Maintained by Hell's infernal craft
But rather yet we hold the cleft
And skirt the wood we'd recent left 20
I saw a sinner bound to sand
With metal rings on feet and hands
And screamed he of his hate for God
He called a fake, a foul, a fraud 24
The sins of man of which he screamed
Foul blasphemy the curses streamed
And seeing then us walking past
Aspersions on me then were cast 28
'There is no god, you're foolish eyes
Can't see whats best described as lies
These burning sands before you see
The punishment for impiety 32
The forest round it ringed with thorns
For sinners who first life have scorned
The river red of sadness bled
Whereby you simply must have tread 36
And burning graves for heretics
Beyond that flows the River Styx
Upon whose banks the greedy ranks
Must push their penance round then back 40
Beyond again the stinking rain
Where gluttons starving cry in vain
Now up to second circle round
Where lustful souls like starlings found 44
Then through the mist for those who missed
The chance to get the Saviors kiss
Beyond again where cowards quake
By Acheron before the gate 48
Include so do the world beyond
Its in your mind, do not respond
And God is just a foolish dream!'
In rage to me this sinner screamed 52
So turns then Virgil to his right
And leads he round the land of blight
And reach we then a rocky course
Where river red poured through in force 56
And tale he told of Man of Crete
A statue great and most complete
Whose head was poured from purest gold
His arms and chest from silver rolled 60
The rest of him down to his balls
From Iron made if I recall
His legs were bronze, his left foot too
His right is baked from clay mind you 64
Upon the foot of clay he leans
While tears fall down in bloody streams
That forms the rivers we traverse
In buddy movie most adverse 68
For sins of world the statue cries
And all the rivers could run dry
Before they'd dent the blood thats spent
That pour through Hell for no repent 72
And Amazon one billionth piece
Of liquid flowing through this crease
So time had come for us to quit
And out on plain of fire split 76
Canto XV
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed!
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased. 88
Canto XVI
And nearing their a certain place 1
Where air contained a distant trace
I heard a roar like crashing shore
Or maybe yet a war next door 4
That happened off beyond our sight
But ears could hear it without eyes
And knew I in my heart that sound
Like distant water falling down 8
My mind recalled Victoria Fall's
By this was made to look real small
Then saw approaching group of souls
When over to me three shades rolled 12
As gain they then all three loud shout
'You, fellow there!' they all cried out
'The very cut of your cool jeans
The place you're from and what it means 16
'What man are you who walks below?
Please tell us what we want to know!'
Oh my! The wounds I saw on limbs
Both old and new that flame seared in 20
My mind recoiled in mental pain
To see these shades in place insane
And halted we right there awhile
As spirits round and round they file 24
And arm in arm in circles go
(With head opposed to heels you know)
There round about on spinning trail
And never risked their movement fail 28
'Though we are base I'd have you know
That once we were the place to go
How fares the city on the hill
Has Fortune left it standing still? 32
So may our fame incline your mind
To chat with us a while, most kind
How came your living feet through hell
Who is your guide?' they asked me tell 36
'Though we be burnt and we be peeled
Around we go in constant wheel
For we were once the kings of men
Until to Hell our souls were sent 40
The one in front, His Piety,
Was one who had impropriety
Though ruled he mother church you know
His soul to Hell was bound to go. 44
The one behind was compromised
By sight of arse and hairy thighs
The oval house he once had ruled
In Hell with me for sin is schooled 48
And so he burns both him and I.'
The spirit said and then he sighed
'And I was William Rufus King
Before I found the seventh ring.' 52
As watched I these poor sinners bake
I shed a tear with heart ache
'The city shining on the hill
In distant wars its blood was spilled 56
Though it was once a paragon
The dream is dead, its all long gone!'
So cried I out with face upraised
They looked at me as men un-fazed 60
Then sudden all three wheel away
As though they'd long their welcome strained
And called they out as off they went
'Remember us when journey's spent!' 64
Then legs a blur away they rushed
Until they passed horizon pushed
In time it took to say 'amen';
long gone were sodomites by then. 68
My master thinks it right to leave
So turned we then without reprieve
Toward the sound of water fall
By noise made deaf like raging squall 72
Till reached we then the bitter edge
And Virgil turns to me on ledge.
Requests my belt from round my waist
Which hand I then with all due haste 76
Then standing there with knotted string
With poise my master chucks it in
The chasm deep where waters fell
Down into circle eight of hell 80
And certain something must reply
I thought as down it fall I spied
Then saw I something from the chasm
The nightmare shape that rose in spasms 84
Saw I this lifting from the dark
This vision that I saw most stark. 86
Canto XVII
Faced with truth what seems like lies
A man would rather fade and die
Than let what can't be called the truth
Escape and pass a rotten tooth 4
The things I saw below this wall
It shook my heart as I recall
As looked I down into the gloom
There saw I very shape of doom 8
And beat its wings and flicked its tail
As arm about my head I flailed
My thoughts struck mad by evil sight
I damned near die from fecking fright! 12
'Behold the beast' my master cried
As watched we nearer monster glide
'The death of valor, weapons, walls
The one whose stench will drown us all!' 16
The monster Geryon here now comes
Beneath the wings that beat like drums
Its body black and yet face fair
It kind of looked like Tony Blair 20
And landed there upon the edge
Like vulture parked on jagged ledge
With tail hung down with poison sting
It sits right there with mouth of string 24
So Virgil says ' Our path we'll bend
And skirt the burning sand amend
Our way from here to waiting beast
To place where circle seven ceased.' 28
So made we then then ten steps to right
As soiled myself in abject fright
Then out of corner eye I spot
A group of souls on surface hot 32
And as the sparks would catch their skins
Like dogs they'd scratch like mortal sin
With legs they'd flick at any flames
That caught on shade by sin unmade 36
'Go talk to those so tour complete'
Said Virgil, 'while I parley beast.'
So wandered I to talk to shades
Who sat on sand in fire bathed 40
And each of them around their necks
A bag hung down on blistered chests
The symbols of a thousand banks
Were stitched upon the purses rank 44
And in the bags the weight of gold
Weighed down their heads for saviour sold
I pitied not these usurious dogs
That God now used for starter logs 48
Who spent their days as if by fleas
Tormented here to God appease
I saw there faces once I knew
That here now learned a painful truth 52
That God was good and God was kind
But usury was sin you'd find
Sat Mister Potter on the sand
As beat he at the flames with hands 56
Then looked at me and out he stuck
With impudence, his purple tongue
'Why are you here oh you not dead'
With spiteful eyes the spirit said 60
These sinners here I pitied not
When saw I their eternal lot
These wretches who had earned their fee
Off others while they lived for free 64
And while they burned I wouldn't spit
On sinners who in flames there sit
So went and found my master now
Who sat upon the monster bowed 68
'We fight for peace' then said the beast
But master says 'His words deceive,
His face is fair but it ends there.'
He tells me as I stand and star 72
And shame it caused me to recall
How scared I was to take the fall
But climbed I up on monster's back
As shoulders hunched and tendons cracked 76
Then cast itself into the void
This monster neath my hema-roids
'Be strong and wary.' cautioned then
My guide as made we our descent 80
'Be sure to keep your circles wide!'
To Geryon my master cried
So lost I lunch on monster hunched
As flew it down on muscles bunched 84
And knew I then the greatest fright
On dreadful down of fearful flight
And Icarus was not so scared
As I upon my life would swear 88
While lamentations rose around
As flew we down to mournful sound. 90
Canto I
When I was near two score years old 1
I found myself in forest cold
For I was lost, from path I'd strayed
In forest dark with shadows frayed 4
Then from the foot of hill I reached
A path that rose through mountain breached
And almost where the hill did rise
I saw a le0pard thin and lithe 8
And then a lion I beheld
Full ravenous with fearsome head
And then a she-wold showed herself
Her leaness seemed to bring despair 12
This very sight so frightened me
I lost all sense or so it seemed
And having there abandoned hope
Of climbing up that mountain slope 16
That restless beast she stalked me down
Retreated I to lower ground
Before my eyes there then appeared
A vision faint of silence speared 20
A man I saw in vastness wild
'Oh pity me,' were words I cried
'Whatever you may be.' I said
He answered me with ghostly breath 24
'Not man but once before was man
From Lombardy my parent came
Sub Julio I sang the praise
Of Anchises and Troy in flames 28
A poet I was born before
The son of one true God was born.'
'And you are Virgil,' I replied
'The stream of all fair speach,' I cried 32
'It is another path you'll take,'
He answered as he watched me shake
'I think and judge it best for you
To follow me, I'll lead you through.' 36
And so the poet moved away
And followed him to my dark fate
On journey deep he guided me
So soul of mine could be complete 40
Canto III
'Righteous anger made me be 1
My master is divinity'
These words their meaning so unclear
'Abandon hope, who enter here' 4
Inscribed above the gate it read
The words above my quaking head
Had seen and to my master cried
Who looked at me with counting eye 8
'Beyond this gate' he says to me
'A journey through calamity
Now you must set your fear at bay
If you would last this fearsome way 12
For you will see the land of death
Where first to go is intellect
And you must never hesitate
If you would see far heaven's gate' 16
And saying so he took my hand
And entered we among the damned
Whispers strange and dreadful sounds
That seemed to come from neath the ground 20
And beating hands fanned turbid air
For those who failed to choose dwelt there
Then Virgil turned to me and said
With words of fear full dipped in dread 24
'These souls that writhe before your eyes
Are those in life who chose no side
And angels who from conflict strayed
When God and Satan battle made 28
And so from world made black and white
These cowards who chose not to fight
The heavens cast them out in shame
Their greatest sin, they lived in vain'
'But why so loud do these souls wail?'
I asked him with my lips turned pale
He looked at me with hooded gaze
'I'll say it short I can' he says 36
'The world will let no fame endure
Of these poor souls from heaven spurned
Beyond all hope we must disdain
These wretched souls that live in pain' 40
And so the great one quickly passed
As vision on my eyeball cast
A banner moved across the plain
And conga line there chased in vain 44
A million souls and more I saw
And some I knew to break God's law
The sky was filled with wasps and flies
As tears of blood fell from their eyes 48
That rained onto a mess of worms
Which feasted as their bellies churned
Beyond the press of screaming souls
A river cross the landscape flowed
And then I saw the crowded shore
'Who are these souls?' I then implored 54
But Virgil did not answer me
He moved away then beckoned he
And once beside the restless stream
A shape I saw from darkest dream
A boat then sails from out of dark
By Charon helmed with eyes like sparks 60
Then cried he loud in dreadful shout
And gestures as he sorts souls out
'Oh woe to you corrupted souls
By heaven now abandon hope 64
I'll lead you to the other side
To darkness, pain and burning fire'
And then he turns to me and says
'You shall not pass o yee not dead' 68
My guide then Virgil turns to him
And silenced him with sentence grim
Saying 'Charon, don't torment your mind
His passage has been willed you'll find 72
And one should do what one is told
So ferry us cross water cold'
Then silence fell on woolly cheeks
As round him spirits gnashed their teeth 76
And cursed their very lives they did
Then Charon to their fate he bid
I could not grasp this fearful scale
Of evil passed through mortal vale 80
And then the ground began to shake
The red air burned now set ablaze
The burning earth beneath my soles
Was rocking like the Beatles roll 84
And sudden I was in a sweat
As whirlwinds from the pit past swept
My mind recoiled from this foul taint
And keeled I down in sudden faint 88
Canto IV
I woke to heavy thunderclap 1
As if two titans met and clashed
And stood then I and stared around
To see what place had me surround 4
I found myself upon the brink
The burning edge of hell's first ring
And looked I down into abyss
Deep valley that was filled with mist 8
And cries and wails assailed my ears
Moans of sadness dim and drear
Whispers by me slowly drifted
From a crowd of people lifted 12
Children sighed in sadness born
Before the savior crowned in thorns
Guide Virgil leads the way ahead
As followed I in growing dread 16
So we traversed that lonely way
With halting breath I softly prayed
And on the road through Limbo town
I saw a host all spread around 20
'You know the crime for which we dwell
Upon the bitter slopes of hell?'
I answered 'No' as down I climbed
He stumbled then as if struck blind 24
'The only sin we've ever known
Is not to worship God alone
These born before the risen Christ
Salvation lost for un-baptized' 28
'Can none be saved?' I begged to know
He told me this in voice full slow
'When first I came to this foul place
I saw a Lord descend in flames 32
And gathered he the kings of old
Were lifted in his golden robe
And all the lords of Israel past
Were saved as helpless demons gnashed 36
Now thirteen hundred years have gone
And yet poor Virgil lingers on
For always and a day we'll bide
In death beyond the risen Christ' 40
That God would let these souls be damned
In burning pit their spirits crammed
Because they knew not God alone
He cast them from his shining throne 44
So on we walked through hell's first ring
With subjects filled but with no king
And so beyond this Limbo town
We found the gate to second round. 48
Canto V
So then we neared hell's second gate 1
I saw a vision carved from hate
The demon Minas flicked his tail
To whip the damned until they wailed 4
With stripes he left on peoples souls
Their place in hell was bound to roll
Then seeing me the demon cried
'Welcome to hell, the way is wide!' 8
My guide then quickly turned to him
And silenced him with sentence grim
'O Minas don't torment your mind
His passing has been blessed you'll find 12
And one should do just what ones told
So carry us through portal cold'
The demon Minas lashed his tail
But us he could not we assail 16
As walked we through to hell's next round
My ears were numbed by dreadful sound
Saw I a flock of starlings there
Now down now up in burning air 20
In a cloud of millions tattered
Down and out and in they scattered
Screaming all the time in voices
Cursing God for life's poor choices 24
Blown about by hells hot fury
Doomed by God alone, no jury 28
I asked my master 'Who are these'
'Who struggle on this restless breeze?' 32
My master stood with brows crease covered
'Tis the fate for mankind's lovers
See the souls who broke God's laws
Queen of old who scandal caused 36
Cleopatra follows next
Her sinful soul denied all rest
Next the heroes of fair Troy
Immortal souls by cyclone toyed' 40
Ladies great and knights full bold
Were tossed within this blizzard cold
And spied I then some souls I'd known
Who suffered in the tempest blown 44
'Master might I call these two?'
I asked as by me hot wind blow
'I'm sure they'll come' to me replied
So called I then as by they flied 48
So came they over circled me
And listened to my begging plea
'Oh battered souls Inferno blow
How came you to this place most low?' 52
They answered me with heartfelt cry
'Our souls were cast here when we died
While books we'd read of Lancelot
Have cast us out, our souls it cost 56
Though we had loved each other well
It damned us both to live in hell'
They spoke to me of all they were
And wept I then with tears unspared
These gentle souls by God's define
Had desecrate the human shrine 60
My mind recoiled from hellish strain
So down I went in faint again 62
Canto VI
Then upon my minds reviving 1
Found myself on ground reclining
Saw I things that chilled my marrow
Souls immersed in graves foul shallow 4
Blinking back the tears now streaming
Eyes stung blind by blizzard screaming
Hailstones gross and raindrops greasy
Rancid stench makes stomach queasy 8
Under tumbled surface moaning
Spirits of the damned lay groaning
Over these a demon towered
Burning eyes of three heads glowered 12
All the while they scream like dogs
Trapped beneath this stinking bog 14
So Virgil stoops while I in awe
And throws he earth into the maw
Who whimpers like a scalded pup
Then over goes till toes were up 18
So walked we then across this field
Of sinners under water sealed
And Virgil told me who they were
The gluttons who did linger there 22
Then saw I spirit in the distance
Questioned I mirage existence
Figure turns to me fast walking
Starts this gargoyle anguished talking 26
Screams he does his face in pain
Battered by the stinging rain
'Oh you that travel through this hell
Recall me fore I downward fell?' 30
'I can't recall' I answered him
'No person with your visage grim
But tell me sir about your flaw
That cast you out against God's law?' 34
'For gluttony I fell in sin
Beyond all hope of risen King
But tell I tale of city great
Where sickness is the native state 38
I tell you this, within three suns
The walls will shake to many guns'
'What happens to these fractured souls?'
In agony I begged to know 42
'Can none be saved?' I almost raved
'The path to hell is merit paved'
He ghastly said with lips all torn
'No none shall live' to me he warned 46
'I need to know' to him I plead
'My fellows all do God's word heed?'
He looked at me and ghastly said
'They all fell here upon their death 50
Six billions souls and more on earth
But only one or two of worth
For every million doomed to burn
There might be one who heaven earns' 54
He goes all quite and dips his brow
My guide says 'He will rise not now
Until the final judgment come
When answer all to Saviour's drum' 58
Then walking down Inferno's path
He brings us close to Plutus wrath 60
Canto VII
'Pape Satan, Demon Leader!' 1
Plutus screams O fearful reader
There shook I from demons cries
The gentle sage, my noble guide 4
He taps me on the arm and says
'Stay true upon this troubled day
This monster has no power here
So follow we, the way is shear.' 8
Then turned he to the demon there
And silenced him with stinging glare
'Upon your spite let your-self feed
While down we go on journey deep.' 12
So demon drops like wind starved sail
As walked we on to Devil's Dale 14
And found ourselves by purple shore
Where universe of ills are stored 16
And all around us spirits rolled
Great weights that bound their living souls 18
And all of them before me ranged
Would walk about till bumped then change
To turn and push this useless rock
The other way till again was knocked 22
'Why do you waste?', ''Why do you squander?'
They cry in pain as round they wander
'Who are these souls that toil below?'
I asked my guide with voice set low 26
He answered me with sideways look
And then his head he slowly shook
'These souls to left and those to right
Were squint of mind in former life' 30
'Do I know these?' I quickly asked
As looking I with spite on mass
He looked at me and answered thus
'They're all the same that sin has brushed 34
Those misers who endured the fall
Their faces lost beyond recall
They swapped their souls for worthless gold
Now spend their days in toil and scold 38
Ill giving and ill keeping cost
These sinners in this land of sobs
Away with we, no pity here!'
He scolded as he led me clear 42
'O dullard, o paltroon, how dumb can you be
Why Fortune is goddess of destiny's tree!
When God the Almighty the heavens He made
He set Fortune among us to circumstance trade 46
Now all that are born stand on destiny's path
Where your fate she lies wait like a rake in the grass.'
Why then Virgil looks up to check he the time
And says he abruptly 'Now onward we climb.' 50
And so we then toiled to the far distant shore
That filled and spilled from a foaming course
Together by these shadowed waves
That terminate this pathway strange 54
Beside the waters known as Styx
Its surface slimed with spirits slicked
And all of those, against they railed
Their fellows with their arms they flailed 58
And tore each other with their teeth
As legs and hands and heads they beat
'Why here resides,' my guide then says
'Those drawn to rage at every breath 62
And others who did sullen sigh
When air was bright and sun was high.' 64
And so then Virgil gestured on
And skirted me this slimy pond
And as we left by wails were chased
From mire to far towers base 68
Canto VIII
I say, going that long before 1
We reached the distant tower's floor
Our eyes were drawn towards the top
Where fires flashed like burning dots 4
And answer came from distant spire
As flickered there returning fire
Then cross the water comes a boat
That moved as fast as speeding bolt 8
And at its helm one spitting man
Who bears us down as if to ram
And cries he in his dreadful shout
'Now you are caught, O soul without!' 12
But Virgil stands in helmsman's way
And listened I to hear him say
'O Phleg-Yas do not torment your mind
His passing has been blessed you'll find 16
With you and we in binded truce
So ferry us cross muddy sluice.'
Enraged he was the demon red
As one who'd lost on sucker's bet 20
Then Virgil leads me on the boat
As lower then the ferry floats
But Phleg-Yas turns the skiff around
And pointed prow to distant ground 24
A hundred leagues and more did pass
Beneath the speeding demon craft
Then saw I thing before obscene
That rose from mire in between 28
A shade there formed of face I'd known
Com-patriot of distant home
Stares at me as I all shiver
Stands O'Reilly (dreadful sinner!) 32
Screams 'Who are you before your time
That floats across this world of slime?'
I answered him 'O slave of sin
You're looking great, so very thin 36
And I may come and I may go
But after all you'll never know.'*
And then I pulled my trusty Colt
And had him in the cross-hairs locked 40
I shot the fiend in his fiend head
Then spat into the river red
And then my guide, he then rejoiced
As singing raised he up his voice 44
And called he to the heaven's there
With words that burned in blackest air
'This my friend is right, is proper
These foul souls have come a cropper 48
Damned by God, by world forgotten
Curse their souls with curses rotten.'
I to him, 'I'd see him suffer!'
'Underneath this river smothered.' 52
He to me 'You'll get your wish
His torture here provides us bliss!
Our bliss, our bliss, the very joy!
To know his soul is devil toyed.' 56
Continued on to distant gate
Where Phleg-Yas left us to our fate 58
And spikes arose like tongues of flame
Where devils lived and demons reigned.
So stood we there upon the brink
My mind so cowed I could not think 62
And up upon the rampart wall
A thousand devils made the call
'Who is this who without death
Can journey through the land of dread.' 66
My master made a secret sign
That devils knew from former time
Supressed they then their great disdain
These angels who from Heaven rained.** 70
But angel gate would open not
Our path ahead it seemed was blocked
But Virgil turns to me and says
'Now One descends through Lion's Gate.' 74
Who has been charged to clear our way
Till welcome here we must now pray
So knealth we there, with out escape
In fear I wept with mouth agape 78
As parley not the lords of rot
And jeered they from the rampart top. 80
Canto IX
I frosted white in growing fright 1
As sat we there in absent light
My guide beside me troubled seemed
While I beside him lost in dream 4
'Does anyone from Limbo come,'
I asked him then in halting tongue
'As deep as We from Lion's Gate
And so down through this Land of Hate?' 8
And answered me and tale he telled
Of journey to the deeps of Hell
That he had made when new born shade
To Judas Ring, a soul to save 12
'My worthy guide!' I gladly cried
'My road is blessed with you beside!'
And then I choked in sudden fear
As saw I Furies standing clear 16
And screamed they down from highest peak
As cowered I in muck and reek.
'If you would live then shade your eyes
Or always here as boulder lie 20
For Gorgon with her deadly gaze
Will petrify!' My Guide then raves.
And all my knowledge, all my knowing
Couldn't stop blind terror growing 24
And all the things that I believed
Right then weren't worth the fog I breath.
And having nothing left but hearing
Heard I sounds most horrid nearing 28
Then facing fast this coming storm
That sounded like a demon swarm
As spirits screamed in mewling fright
And ever louder grew the blight. 30
My guide then he releases me
And raise myself so I can see
I saw there Angel crossing fast
All shining like a lightning blast 34
His blessed feet not touching water
And all around He demons slaughtered.
Breaks he down the cities door's
His face wrapped up in other chores 38
He barely seemed to notice us
As hung we low with heads like thus
So stands he wide and belows loud
'O You Cast Out, O Hated Crowd! 40
Why do you Fallen listen not
When Betters tell you what is what?
Why do you rail against the fates
That told you to unlock that gate?' 44
My bind could hardly take the strain
As entered we the Land of Pain
At every point I cast my gaze
I see ten thousand burning graves 48
And tortured moans and piteous wails
Sailed past me as we walk this trail. 50
'Who can all these people be?'
I asked in awe at what I see. 52
My master said with steely breath
'Those heretics who dared mock death
They looked at world and thought they saw
A kingdom made without God's Law 56
And so they fry as heretics
In burning graves beyond the Styx.' 58
So walking on he gestures right
As toil we through torment and fright. 60
Canto X
Now followed we a narrow path 1
Between these scenes of pain and wrath
'O Highest Virtue,' I decried
'Can those within the graves be spied?' 4
My master turned and told me then
'Their spirits burn in flame within
And only on the final day
When Armageddon come their way 8
Will flesh that once before was worn
In time to face the Savior's scorn
Within this crematory lies
The ghosts of those who thought when died 12
That soul would cease to be right there
So life best lived without a care
No those who lived by being free
Must burn in hell for eternity.' 16
Then heard I voice cried out in pain
That begged of me to know my name
And asked me from which city came
And why I journeyed through the flame 20
And how I toured this frightful ring
This shade who once before was king
So Virgil turned and led me t0
Where ghost of Nixon rose on through 24
With head held high, with look of scorn
He stared at me as though I worm
'Who were your fathers?' then he asked
As burned he in the fire basked 28
It made me glad for I to know
This sinner to the bad place go
So told him then of who I was
My name, my church, my favorite cause 32
I told the shade and held none back
As listened he from roasting crack
Then lectures me his manner grand
As future there his vision spanned 36
And told me tales of things to come
And battles made to distant drums
He told me then of wars in line
From Friday next to end of time 40
Right then I grasped the fate of soul
The past and future only know
But not the present could they see
Just echoes of the things that be 44
And when the final portal closed
These souls would burn while others rose
So crept I close then to the brink
And looked I into grave I sink 48
My gaze it falls on writhing mass
That cooked within the steaming gas.
One thousand pairs of bloodshot eyes
There locked on mine as watched I fry 52
Then catch my foot and fall head first
Into the burning grave with cursed
But virgil he then caught my bag
And hauled me back, on fumes I gag 56
So Virgil turns and cautions there
'The way is long and far from fair.'
So walk we on through circle sixth
As gathered then an evil stink. 60
Canto XI
We came along a rim like shoulder 1
All ringed around by massive boulders
We found a crowd most cruelly pent
As air was fouled by dreadful stench 4
So down we go and pray to heaven
Before we enter circle seven
In the meantime troubled breathing
Lay against a headstone heaving 8
Names inscribed upon the stone
List the popes from number one
So sat we down to clear the air
As Virgil then some wisdom shared 12
'Beyond this broken ring of stones
Three rings descend to Satan's bones
The six behind were of their sort
But those below this circle fort 16
Reflect the worst that man can be
All locked in pain eternally
The way that hell is crafted here
From top to bottom make it clear 20
Those cowards who from hell without
Then Limbo ring in thickest cloud
Then the lustful in the second
Sex the sin, just for the record 24
Third ring holds those gluttons most
Who sit in stinking rain as ghosts
The fourth ring is the place to be
If you have been consumed by greed 28
The weight of wealth will drag them down
Upon their death to prison round
We then descend to circle five
Where wrathful and the sullen thrive 32
And then we enter circle six
The burning graves beyond the Styx
Now comes the time to draw a line
That separates these different crimes 36
As all below this bitter rim
Are all those damned by deeper sin
The seventh set in circles three
Divided by severity 40
The first reserved for those who kill
And those that rob and things worse still
The next is there for those that die
By their own hand, in hell they fry 44
The last for those who dare blaspheme
In circle third their ass is reamed
And so we come to circle eight
A place arranged for those too late 48
The lawyers and the liars crash
With flatterers and like same trash
The final ring is number nine
The deepest place for deepest crime 52
Those foulest who betrayed their lords
In lake of ice impaled on swords
And so the souls of traitors born
In hells ninth ring by heaven scorned 56
So there it is boy, top to pit
The lay of layered prison split
The sings arranged from least to worst
A place in death for all those cursed 60
Where every sin is marked in line
How foul it was, how base the crime.'
Though glad I was to know the way
That God did punish sin today 64
Then Virgil stands and looks to sky
To see which stars above fly by
And so we leave for lowest levels
Path that leads us to the devil 68
The rings that hold those left behind
We'd set ourselves to it, we'd bind
Our fate to travel down this trail
From now until the end of tail. 72
Canto XII
We reached the edge and I looked down 1
Upon a site all drear and brown
And stretched away a path I saw
That snaked on down to valley floor 4
And there upon the plain below
I saw the Phlegathon past flow
As all around a thousand shapes
That moved across the blasted scape 8
While distant cries and chilling screams
All drifted from that burning stream
As Virgil points to gloom below
And says 'This way we now must go.' 12
On path made by the Risen Christ
When harrowing the Hell he sliced
Right through he did and took he then
The Fathers and the Kings of men 16
So made we then our way down there
As choked I did on stinking air
Then on the rim a nightmare shape
Of infamy, the monster lay 20
And cast his eye about he did
All bright and red beneath its lid
By minotaur our way was blocked
On shattered trail through blasted rock 24
That led us down to circle seven
Reserved for those now God forsaken
Now at its flanks the monster gnashed
With flaming hooves the ground it lashed 28
'Perhaps you think him Ulysses?'
My master to the monster preached
'No matter if you rant and fume
This mortal morsel not for you.' 32
Berserk then goes the Minotaur
As hang we right to valley floor
The path ahead was strewn with bones
That first I had mistook for stones 36
And human skulls filled every crag
In piles of thousands they were stacked
As down the broken slope I stumble
And all around me landscape rumbles 40
Unused it was to living mass
That sent bones down the slope to crash
Unto the distant valley floor
That spied I as I softly swore 44
For standing at the pathway end
I saw a gang of Centaur bend
They did to stare at bones
That skittered past like Rolling Stones 48
And looked they did, and then they speak
'What punishment is it you seek?'
'You see he moves the very rocks?'
Proud Pholus said as moved he hocks 52
Then landed I in tangled heap
In tumble down at Centaur feet
Who drew their bows and further still
With speed they loaded fast with quills 56
Yet Virgil on them quickly gained
And to the Guardians he then explained
'He is no robber, I no thief
But living man would you believe 60
That journeys through this Land of Woe
Where all thats bad is wont to go
Provide us Chiron, with a guide
And kindly let this beggar ride 64
For he is not like you and I
Not dead and so his soul can't fly
Then Chiron turned to Nessus proud
And says he then in voice full loud 68
To guard us and to guide us through
To place where we were going to
So on the Centaurs back I rode
As tales of river red I'm told 72
'See these who sit in boiling flow
These mighty tyrants now do know
The price of all their tyrant crimes
In life most brief, now endless time 76
All sit upon these rocks instead
With bloody flow up to their heads
And every time they gasp for air
An arrow hits them fair and square 80
For Centaurs move in watchful ranks
And guard with bow from deadly bank
And on each arrow flowing writ
'Sic Semper Tyrannis' in tiny script 84
And every arrow found its mark
In Babylon of fernal dark.'
Now further up this bitter stream
I move along in world of dream 88
Where people who did others ill
Might sit midstream up to their gills
While others who did lesser wrongs
Might sit up to their too tight thongs 92
And all of these in pain now learned
That Hell was free but Heaven earned
And all who sat were wont to know
That Hell was not the place to go 96
And of these souls I knew some few
Who steeped within the boiling brew
There Hitler sat up to his brows
With Stalin, Franco, Chairman Mao 100
And Reagan sat up to his lips
And Thatcher sunk up to her tits
And Churchill lurked with belly wide
Immersed beneath the boiling tide 104
There all the kings of Europe past
Into the Phlegathon were cast
While all the souls of Darfur Black
Avenged they were upon that bank 108
Still further now we went down stream
And others saw we bathed in spleen
My master tells me then and there
'This other sort killed Nature fair 112
Now find themselves in screaming throng
Up to their necks in Phlegathon.'
Beside the course our path now lead
The boiling brook beside we tread 116
Then Nessus leads us to a point
Where here and there by shallows joined
And there we over shoals then crossed
Between the burning human dross 120
Then reaching we the other bank
We found ourselves in forest dank 122
Canto XIII
So entered we this forest black 1
Its colors wrong, all out of whack
And Nessus left us find our way
In pathless wood in fear we strayed 4
And all my clothes on briar's torn
All shredded they on curving thorns
And up on top of branches gnarled
There nested Harpies, down they snarled 8
From high on top of highest boughs
I watched them with my twisted brow
Their eyes were cold, with wings so wide
They screamed as heard I round me sighs 12
With dreadful moan that echoes round
The sad lament of hopeless sound
So Virgil turns to say right there
In words that died in stagnant air 16
That we had entered second ring
That Phlegathon around did pin
That stretched on to the burning sands
(Where blasphemous by God were canned.) 20
'Behold this wood and listen now
For source of this infernal row
Just grab a branch and snap it off
To put to rest that train of thought 24
So grabbed I branch and off I tear
And heard I then a pain filled swear
'Oh Cruel-ty, without pity!
Oh why must you most cruel wound me? 28
What once was man but now are stumps
Just flotsam in this forest dumped
For those who have the souls of snakes
Now down in seventh circle staked.' 32
From out of wound there came a voice
Of those who made a bitter choice
'Forgive me please.' my master grieved
To set this wretch upon your tree 36
So tell this fool who once you were
Your name on earth he may repair.'
And so in wood of suicide
I heard a tale that made me cry 40
Of servant who had served his lord
On shifting sands, by act of sword
Then came one day and I was framed
And took my life for sense of shame 44
And ever if you see my master
When you leave this foul disaster
Tell him then of all you know
My self slain soul in hell now sown.' 48
And told him not I seen his boss
A mile before the river cross
Where rested he up to his brows
In burning blood in fate most foul 52
'Now tell him how you can to be,'
My master speaks to moaning tree,
'In second round of seventh maw
And what your dying vision saw.' 56
'I saw a light.' The tree replied
'When first I'd realized I'd died
And then a wind began to blow
That pulled me in on current slow 60
Until it like Katrina blasts
That sucked me down and then was cast
By chance wherever happened fell
On dreadful slopes of seventh hell 64
And when the final day last comes
We'll suffer still with bodies hung
That once we wore, but wear no more
Instead upon our limbs we'll store 68
And hang they then like rotten fruit
Reminder of a dreadful truth
That One should never Oneself kill
Or risk your soul in forest chill.' 72
Before the bush could say some more
We heard a growing distant roar
Then a sudden ground starts shaking
Heard I sounds of branches breaking 76
Sees I two I thought I knew
Come running in with asses blue
Followed by a hundred bitches 79
One of them in pain down pitches 80
And cries he then to fleeing mate
Before by pack of dogs was ate
'You weren't so fast at Nuremberg!'
And then was caught by chasing curs 84
And gobbled up and carried off 85
This sinner by the pack was scoffed
Half a hundred hounds all straying
All the while make dreadful baying 88
Run they off with little pieces
Splattered on their midnight fleeces 90
Heard I low then pain filled moaning
Crept I closer to the groaning
To where I saw a broken bush
That bleeding from it phrases gushed 94
'I am the ghost of Kurt Cobain
By mine own hand was I self slain
Now in this bleeding bush I'm bind
Oh well, whatever, nevermind.' 98
Then Virgil takes my hand and leads
Beyond the wood of tree that bleed
As tears now roll from wounded eye
In silence stumbled as I cried 102
Canto XIV
So led was I to Great Divide 1
The burning sands by God devised
And out upon this dreadful plain
I saw a million fires rain 4
Upon those souls that sinned below
That dared attack the golden throne
In seventh maw third circle round
The souls of others foul be found 8
The fires burned like napalm dropped
On driest thatch or parched crops
In darkest gloom the only light
Was from these burning fires bright 12
As sinners blazed and rolled on sand
To douse what can't be doused by damned
So Virgil turns and leads the way
Not out on burning sand we stray 16
Where flames came down like burning rafts
Maintained by Hell's infernal craft
But rather yet we hold the cleft
And skirt the wood we'd recent left 20
I saw a sinner bound to sand
With metal rings on feet and hands
And screamed he of his hate for God
He called a fake, a foul, a fraud 24
The sins of man of which he screamed
Foul blasphemy the curses streamed
And seeing then us walking past
Aspersions on me then were cast 28
'There is no god, you're foolish eyes
Can't see whats best described as lies
These burning sands before you see
The punishment for impiety 32
The forest round it ringed with thorns
For sinners who first life have scorned
The river red of sadness bled
Whereby you simply must have tread 36
And burning graves for heretics
Beyond that flows the River Styx
Upon whose banks the greedy ranks
Must push their penance round then back 40
Beyond again the stinking rain
Where gluttons starving cry in vain
Now up to second circle round
Where lustful souls like starlings found 44
Then through the mist for those who missed
The chance to get the Saviors kiss
Beyond again where cowards quake
By Acheron before the gate 48
Include so do the world beyond
Its in your mind, do not respond
And God is just a foolish dream!'
In rage to me this sinner screamed 52
So turns then Virgil to his right
And leads he round the land of blight
And reach we then a rocky course
Where river red poured through in force 56
And tale he told of Man of Crete
A statue great and most complete
Whose head was poured from purest gold
His arms and chest from silver rolled 60
The rest of him down to his balls
From Iron made if I recall
His legs were bronze, his left foot too
His right is baked from clay mind you 64
Upon the foot of clay he leans
While tears fall down in bloody streams
That forms the rivers we traverse
In buddy movie most adverse 68
For sins of world the statue cries
And all the rivers could run dry
Before they'd dent the blood thats spent
That pour through Hell for no repent 72
And Amazon one billionth piece
Of liquid flowing through this crease
So time had come for us to quit
And out on plain of fire split 76
Canto XV
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed!
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased. 88
Canto XVI
And nearing their a certain place 1
Where air contained a distant trace
I heard a roar like crashing shore
Or maybe yet a war next door 4
That happened off beyond our sight
But ears could hear it without eyes
And knew I in my heart that sound
Like distant water falling down 8
My mind recalled Victoria Fall's
By this was made to look real small
Then saw approaching group of souls
When over to me three shades rolled 12
As gain they then all three loud shout
'You, fellow there!' they all cried out
'The very cut of your cool jeans
The place you're from and what it means 16
'What man are you who walks below?
Please tell us what we want to know!'
Oh my! The wounds I saw on limbs
Both old and new that flame seared in 20
My mind recoiled in mental pain
To see these shades in place insane
And halted we right there awhile
As spirits round and round they file 24
And arm in arm in circles go
(With head opposed to heels you know)
There round about on spinning trail
And never risked their movement fail 28
'Though we are base I'd have you know
That once we were the place to go
How fares the city on the hill
Has Fortune left it standing still? 32
So may our fame incline your mind
To chat with us a while, most kind
How came your living feet through hell
Who is your guide?' they asked me tell 36
'Though we be burnt and we be peeled
Around we go in constant wheel
For we were once the kings of men
Until to Hell our souls were sent 40
The one in front, His Piety,
Was one who had impropriety
Though ruled he mother church you know
His soul to Hell was bound to go. 44
The one behind was compromised
By sight of arse and hairy thighs
The oval house he once had ruled
In Hell with me for sin is schooled 48
And so he burns both him and I.'
The spirit said and then he sighed
'And I was William Rufus King
Before I found the seventh ring.' 52
As watched I these poor sinners bake
I shed a tear with heart ache
'The city shining on the hill
In distant wars its blood was spilled 56
Though it was once a paragon
The dream is dead, its all long gone!'
So cried I out with face upraised
They looked at me as men un-fazed 60
Then sudden all three wheel away
As though they'd long their welcome strained
And called they out as off they went
'Remember us when journey's spent!' 64
Then legs a blur away they rushed
Until they passed horizon pushed
In time it took to say 'amen';
long gone were sodomites by then. 68
My master thinks it right to leave
So turned we then without reprieve
Toward the sound of water fall
By noise made deaf like raging squall 72
Till reached we then the bitter edge
And Virgil turns to me on ledge.
Requests my belt from round my waist
Which hand I then with all due haste 76
Then standing there with knotted string
With poise my master chucks it in
The chasm deep where waters fell
Down into circle eight of hell 80
And certain something must reply
I thought as down it fall I spied
Then saw I something from the chasm
The nightmare shape that rose in spasms 84
Saw I this lifting from the dark
This vision that I saw most stark. 86
Canto XVII
Faced with truth what seems like lies
A man would rather fade and die
Than let what can't be called the truth
Escape and pass a rotten tooth 4
The things I saw below this wall
It shook my heart as I recall
As looked I down into the gloom
There saw I very shape of doom 8
And beat its wings and flicked its tail
As arm about my head I flailed
My thoughts struck mad by evil sight
I damned near die from fecking fright! 12
'Behold the beast' my master cried
As watched we nearer monster glide
'The death of valor, weapons, walls
The one whose stench will drown us all!' 16
The monster Geryon here now comes
Beneath the wings that beat like drums
Its body black and yet face fair
It kind of looked like Tony Blair 20
And landed there upon the edge
Like vulture parked on jagged ledge
With tail hung down with poison sting
It sits right there with mouth of string 24
So Virgil says ' Our path we'll bend
And skirt the burning sand amend
Our way from here to waiting beast
To place where circle seven ceased.' 28
So made we then then ten steps to right
As soiled myself in abject fright
Then out of corner eye I spot
A group of souls on surface hot 32
And as the sparks would catch their skins
Like dogs they'd scratch like mortal sin
With legs they'd flick at any flames
That caught on shade by sin unmade 36
'Go talk to those so tour complete'
Said Virgil, 'while I parley beast.'
So wandered I to talk to shades
Who sat on sand in fire bathed 40
And each of them around their necks
A bag hung down on blistered chests
The symbols of a thousand banks
Were stitched upon the purses rank 44
And in the bags the weight of gold
Weighed down their heads for saviour sold
I pitied not these usurious dogs
That God now used for starter logs 48
Who spent their days as if by fleas
Tormented here to God appease
I saw there faces once I knew
That here now learned a painful truth 52
That God was good and God was kind
But usury was sin you'd find
Sat Mister Potter on the sand
As beat he at the flames with hands 56
Then looked at me and out he stuck
With impudence, his purple tongue
'Why are you here oh you not dead'
With spiteful eyes the spirit said 60
These sinners here I pitied not
When saw I their eternal lot
These wretches who had earned their fee
Off others while they lived for free 64
And while they burned I wouldn't spit
On sinners who in flames there sit
So went and found my master now
Who sat upon the monster bowed 68
'We fight for peace' then said the beast
But master says 'His words deceive,
His face is fair but it ends there.'
He tells me as I stand and star 72
And shame it caused me to recall
How scared I was to take the fall
But climbed I up on monster's back
As shoulders hunched and tendons cracked 76
Then cast itself into the void
This monster neath my hema-roids
'Be strong and wary.' cautioned then
My guide as made we our descent 80
'Be sure to keep your circles wide!'
To Geryon my master cried
So lost I lunch on monster hunched
As flew it down on muscles bunched 84
And knew I then the greatest fright
On dreadful down of fearful flight
And Icarus was not so scared
As I upon my life would swear 88
While lamentations rose around
As flew we down to mournful sound. 90
Canto XVII Project Dante
This took about 24 hours from start to stop. I think it will come in at about 90 lines, I sort of lost count half way through.
I ended up including the last few lines of canto XVI at the start of canto XVII because it was an incantation or proclamation of truth on behalf of the author about the validity of the things that he had seen (in the eight circle.)
First pass.
Faced with truth what seems like lies
A man would rather fade and die
Than let what can't be called the truth
Escape and pass a rotten tooth 4
The things I saw below this wall
It shook my heart as I recall
As looked I down into the gloom
There saw I very shape of doom 8
And beat its wings and flicked its tail
As arm about my head I flailed
My thoughts struck mad by evil sight
I damned near die from fecking fright! 12
'Behold the beast' my master cried
As watched we nearer monster glide
'The death of valor, weapons, walls
The one whose stench will drown us all!' 16
The monster Geryon here now comes
Beneath the wings that beat like drums
Its body black and yet face fair
It kind of looked like Tony Blair 20
And landed there upon the edge
Like vulture parked on jagged ledge
With tail hung down with poison sting
It sits right there with mouth of string 24
So Virgil says ' Our path we'll bend
And skirt the burning sand amend
Our way from here to waiting beast
To place where circle seven ceased.' 28
So made we then then ten steps to right
As soiled myself in abject fright
Then out of corner eye I spot
A group of souls on surface hot 32
And as the sparks would catch their skins
Like dogs they'd scratch like mortal sin
With legs they'd flick at any flames
That caught on shade by sin unmade 36
'Go talk to those so tour complete'
Said Virgil, 'while I parley beast.'
So wandered I to talk to shades
Who sat on sand in fire bathed 40
And each of them around their necks
A bag hung down on blistered chests
The symbols of a thousand banks
Were stitched upon the purses rank 44
And in the bags the weight of gold
Weighed down their heads for saviour sold
I pitied not these usurious dogs
That God now used for starter logs 48
Who spent their days as if by fleas
Tormented here to God appease
I saw there faces once I knew
That here now learned a painful truth 52
That God was good and God was kind
But usury was sin you'd find
Sat Mister Potter on the sand
As beat he at the flames with hands 56
Then looked at me and out he stuck
With impudence, his purple tongue
'Why are you here oh you not dead'
With spiteful eyes the spirit said 60
These sinners here I pitied not
When saw I their eternal lot
These wretches who had earned their fee
Off others while they lived for free 64
And while they burned I wouldn't spit
On sinners who in flames there sit
So went and found my master now
Who sat upon the monster bowed 68
'We fight for peace' then said the beast
But master says 'His words deceive,
His face is fair but it ends there.'
He tells me as I stand and star 72
And shame it caused me to recall
How scared I was to take the fall
But climbed I up on monster's back
As shoulders hunched and tendons cracked 76
Then cast itself into the void
This monster neath my hema-roids
'Be strong and wary.' cautioned then
My guide as made we our descent 80
'Be sure to keep your circles wide!'
To Geryon my master cried
So lost I lunch on monster hunched
As flew it down on muscles bunched 84
And knew I then the greatest fright
On dreadful down of fearful flight
And Icarus was not so scared
As I upon my life would swear 88
While lamentations rose around
As flew we down to mournful sound. 90
This took about 24 hours from start to stop. I think it will come in at about 90 lines, I sort of lost count half way through.
I ended up including the last few lines of canto XVI at the start of canto XVII because it was an incantation or proclamation of truth on behalf of the author about the validity of the things that he had seen (in the eight circle.)
First pass.
Faced with truth what seems like lies
A man would rather fade and die
Than let what can't be called the truth
Escape and pass a rotten tooth 4
The things I saw below this wall
It shook my heart as I recall
As looked I down into the gloom
There saw I very shape of doom 8
And beat its wings and flicked its tail
As arm about my head I flailed
My thoughts struck mad by evil sight
I damned near die from fecking fright! 12
'Behold the beast' my master cried
As watched we nearer monster glide
'The death of valor, weapons, walls
The one whose stench will drown us all!' 16
The monster Geryon here now comes
Beneath the wings that beat like drums
Its body black and yet face fair
It kind of looked like Tony Blair 20
And landed there upon the edge
Like vulture parked on jagged ledge
With tail hung down with poison sting
It sits right there with mouth of string 24
So Virgil says ' Our path we'll bend
And skirt the burning sand amend
Our way from here to waiting beast
To place where circle seven ceased.' 28
So made we then then ten steps to right
As soiled myself in abject fright
Then out of corner eye I spot
A group of souls on surface hot 32
And as the sparks would catch their skins
Like dogs they'd scratch like mortal sin
With legs they'd flick at any flames
That caught on shade by sin unmade 36
'Go talk to those so tour complete'
Said Virgil, 'while I parley beast.'
So wandered I to talk to shades
Who sat on sand in fire bathed 40
And each of them around their necks
A bag hung down on blistered chests
The symbols of a thousand banks
Were stitched upon the purses rank 44
And in the bags the weight of gold
Weighed down their heads for saviour sold
I pitied not these usurious dogs
That God now used for starter logs 48
Who spent their days as if by fleas
Tormented here to God appease
I saw there faces once I knew
That here now learned a painful truth 52
That God was good and God was kind
But usury was sin you'd find
Sat Mister Potter on the sand
As beat he at the flames with hands 56
Then looked at me and out he stuck
With impudence, his purple tongue
'Why are you here oh you not dead'
With spiteful eyes the spirit said 60
These sinners here I pitied not
When saw I their eternal lot
These wretches who had earned their fee
Off others while they lived for free 64
And while they burned I wouldn't spit
On sinners who in flames there sit
So went and found my master now
Who sat upon the monster bowed 68
'We fight for peace' then said the beast
But master says 'His words deceive,
His face is fair but it ends there.'
He tells me as I stand and star 72
And shame it caused me to recall
How scared I was to take the fall
But climbed I up on monster's back
As shoulders hunched and tendons cracked 76
Then cast itself into the void
This monster neath my hema-roids
'Be strong and wary.' cautioned then
My guide as made we our descent 80
'Be sure to keep your circles wide!'
To Geryon my master cried
So lost I lunch on monster hunched
As flew it down on muscles bunched 84
And knew I then the greatest fright
On dreadful down of fearful flight
And Icarus was not so scared
As I upon my life would swear 88
While lamentations rose around
As flew we down to mournful sound. 90
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Canto XVI Project Dante
This was a difficult canto. Now that I know I'm aiming for a certain length it kind of helps me break down the canto's into more manageable pieces.
First Pass
And nearing their a certain place 1
Where air contained a distant trace
I heard a roar like crashing shore
Or maybe yet a war next door 4
That happened off beyond our sight
But ears could hear it without eyes
And knew I in my heart that sound
Like distant water falling down 8
My mind recalled Victoria Fall's
By this was made to look real small
Then saw approaching group of souls
When over to me three shades rolled 12
As gain they then all three loud shout
'You, fellow there!' they all cried out
'The very cut of your cool jeans
The place you're from and what it means 16
'What man are you who walks below?
Please tell us what we want to know!'
Oh my! The wounds I saw on limbs
Both old and new that flame seared in 20
My mind recoiled in mental pain
To see these shades in place insane
And halted we right there awhile
As spirits round and round they file 24
And arm in arm in circles go
(With head opposed to heels you know)
There round about on spinning trail
And never risked their movement fail 28
'Though we are base I'd have you know
That once we were the place to go
How fares the city on the hill
Has Fortune left it standing still? 32
So may our fame incline your mind
To chat with us a while, most kind
How came your living feet through hell
Who is your guide?' they asked me tell 36
'Though we be burnt and we be peeled
Around we go in constant wheel
For we were once the kings of men
Until to Hell our souls were sent 40
The one in front, His Piety,
Was one who had impropriety
Though ruled he mother church you know
His soul to Hell was bound to go. 44
The one behind was compromised
By sight of arse and hairy thighs
The oval house he once had ruled
In Hell with me for sin is schooled 48
And so he burns both him and I.'
The spirit said and then he sighed
'And I was William Rufus King
Before I found the seventh ring.' 52
As watched I these poor sinners bake
I shed a tear with heart ache
'The city shining on the hill
In distant wars its blood was spilled 56
Though it was once a paragon
The dream is dead, its all long gone!'
So cried I out with face upraised
They looked at me as men un-fazed 60
Then sudden all three wheel away
As though they'd long their welcome strained
And called they out as off they went
'Remember us when journey's spent!' 64
Then legs a blur away they rushed
Until they passed horizon pushed
In time it took to say 'amen';
long gone were sodomites by then. 68
My master thinks it right to leave
So turned we then without reprieve
Toward the sound of water fall
By noise made deaf like raging squall 72
Till reached we then the bitter edge
And Virgil turns to me on ledge.
Requests my belt from round my waist
Which hand I then with all due haste 76
Then standing there with knotted string
With poise my master chucks it in
The chasm deep where waters fell
Down into circle eight of hell 80
And certain something must reply
I thought as down it fall I spied
Then saw I something from the chasm
The nightmare shape that rose in spasms 84
Saw I this lifting from the dark
This vision that I saw most stark. 86
Okay, so a couple of lines short of the 90 I need, but not bad for the first pass.
The three named sodomites are 15th President of US James Buchanan, his gay lover William Rufus King and Pope Julius III (died 1555)
Buchanan and King of course would ask about Washington, or its 19th century equivalent, not Florence as the souls in Dante Inferno inquire after.
This was a difficult canto. Now that I know I'm aiming for a certain length it kind of helps me break down the canto's into more manageable pieces.
First Pass
And nearing their a certain place 1
Where air contained a distant trace
I heard a roar like crashing shore
Or maybe yet a war next door 4
That happened off beyond our sight
But ears could hear it without eyes
And knew I in my heart that sound
Like distant water falling down 8
My mind recalled Victoria Fall's
By this was made to look real small
Then saw approaching group of souls
When over to me three shades rolled 12
As gain they then all three loud shout
'You, fellow there!' they all cried out
'The very cut of your cool jeans
The place you're from and what it means 16
'What man are you who walks below?
Please tell us what we want to know!'
Oh my! The wounds I saw on limbs
Both old and new that flame seared in 20
My mind recoiled in mental pain
To see these shades in place insane
And halted we right there awhile
As spirits round and round they file 24
And arm in arm in circles go
(With head opposed to heels you know)
There round about on spinning trail
And never risked their movement fail 28
'Though we are base I'd have you know
That once we were the place to go
How fares the city on the hill
Has Fortune left it standing still? 32
So may our fame incline your mind
To chat with us a while, most kind
How came your living feet through hell
Who is your guide?' they asked me tell 36
'Though we be burnt and we be peeled
Around we go in constant wheel
For we were once the kings of men
Until to Hell our souls were sent 40
The one in front, His Piety,
Was one who had impropriety
Though ruled he mother church you know
His soul to Hell was bound to go. 44
The one behind was compromised
By sight of arse and hairy thighs
The oval house he once had ruled
In Hell with me for sin is schooled 48
And so he burns both him and I.'
The spirit said and then he sighed
'And I was William Rufus King
Before I found the seventh ring.' 52
As watched I these poor sinners bake
I shed a tear with heart ache
'The city shining on the hill
In distant wars its blood was spilled 56
Though it was once a paragon
The dream is dead, its all long gone!'
So cried I out with face upraised
They looked at me as men un-fazed 60
Then sudden all three wheel away
As though they'd long their welcome strained
And called they out as off they went
'Remember us when journey's spent!' 64
Then legs a blur away they rushed
Until they passed horizon pushed
In time it took to say 'amen';
long gone were sodomites by then. 68
My master thinks it right to leave
So turned we then without reprieve
Toward the sound of water fall
By noise made deaf like raging squall 72
Till reached we then the bitter edge
And Virgil turns to me on ledge.
Requests my belt from round my waist
Which hand I then with all due haste 76
Then standing there with knotted string
With poise my master chucks it in
The chasm deep where waters fell
Down into circle eight of hell 80
And certain something must reply
I thought as down it fall I spied
Then saw I something from the chasm
The nightmare shape that rose in spasms 84
Saw I this lifting from the dark
This vision that I saw most stark. 86
Okay, so a couple of lines short of the 90 I need, but not bad for the first pass.
The three named sodomites are 15th President of US James Buchanan, his gay lover William Rufus King and Pope Julius III (died 1555)
Buchanan and King of course would ask about Washington, or its 19th century equivalent, not Florence as the souls in Dante Inferno inquire after.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Canto XV Project Dante
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed!
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased. 88
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed!
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased. 88
Monday, November 13, 2006
Canto XV
First Draft
Its monday morning and I have a clearer picture of what I want from the project.
Goals
No 1: It should be 34 cantos of 90 lines per canto with 45 rhyming couplets per canto.
No 2: It should include 9 paintings
No 3: It should be layed out in book form with 1 color printing
No 4: It should include full annotation and indexing
No 5: It should be nearly unintelligible
The Plan
For the most part the plan is the same, however instead of the poem being finished (as if it were) when posted, thats kind of the first step now. I'll go back and edit out or add lines to get to the required lenght. So first pass just to get through, next pass to get to the required lenght and then final pass for the final lick and polish. Then onto the illustration and design phase, print prep and proofing and all that bingo.
Without further...
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
So, 48 lines and I still have the description of the torments of circle seven and a description of the comrades of the ghost of Cary Grant. I thought of using the most beloved homosexual actors, writers and musicians. Beloved.
Thats what hells all about you see. People you love. Thats what makes it all so funny and so tragic. Hell is an invention thats designed to hold and punish people that we love. Hell is the idea that people we know will suffer for eternity because of their own failures in a world of choice. By the standards of sin set out in the Inferno we would all be in Hell.
Canto XV Part 2
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
And the final part written on tuesday morning. I had to change the events of the canto around to get it to flow a little better. Although sodomy is the recognized sin of the runners in circle seven they are not referred to beyond a reference to one who sinned 'straining his tendons.'
Rather hilarious, don't you think. Now for the finish.
I threw in Brenden Behan, btw, not because he's gay, but he did the write The Quare Fellow which contains a homosexual, oh and a prison.
Okay, so I need an 16 line out to get to the next canto and the usurers beyond.
I've further identified some fictional gay characters in popular entertainment so I'm going to put a few references to TV etc.
Still quite a bit to go but enough for tonight
And heres the finish
Canto XV Part 3
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased 88
So, thats the first draft and I'm out of target by 2 lines, but thats easily fixed later.
Now on to canto XVI. Once thats done I'll be ready for XVII which is halfway through the Inferno and so therefore a kind of milestone.
First Draft
Its monday morning and I have a clearer picture of what I want from the project.
Goals
No 1: It should be 34 cantos of 90 lines per canto with 45 rhyming couplets per canto.
No 2: It should include 9 paintings
No 3: It should be layed out in book form with 1 color printing
No 4: It should include full annotation and indexing
No 5: It should be nearly unintelligible
The Plan
For the most part the plan is the same, however instead of the poem being finished (as if it were) when posted, thats kind of the first step now. I'll go back and edit out or add lines to get to the required lenght. So first pass just to get through, next pass to get to the required lenght and then final pass for the final lick and polish. Then onto the illustration and design phase, print prep and proofing and all that bingo.
Without further...
So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48
So, 48 lines and I still have the description of the torments of circle seven and a description of the comrades of the ghost of Cary Grant. I thought of using the most beloved homosexual actors, writers and musicians. Beloved.
Thats what hells all about you see. People you love. Thats what makes it all so funny and so tragic. Hell is an invention thats designed to hold and punish people that we love. Hell is the idea that people we know will suffer for eternity because of their own failures in a world of choice. By the standards of sin set out in the Inferno we would all be in Hell.
Canto XV Part 2
'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74
And the final part written on tuesday morning. I had to change the events of the canto around to get it to flow a little better. Although sodomy is the recognized sin of the runners in circle seven they are not referred to beyond a reference to one who sinned 'straining his tendons.'
Rather hilarious, don't you think. Now for the finish.
I threw in Brenden Behan, btw, not because he's gay, but he did the write The Quare Fellow which contains a homosexual, oh and a prison.
Okay, so I need an 16 line out to get to the next canto and the usurers beyond.
I've further identified some fictional gay characters in popular entertainment so I'm going to put a few references to TV etc.
Still quite a bit to go but enough for tonight
And heres the finish
Canto XV Part 3
Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased 88
So, thats the first draft and I'm out of target by 2 lines, but thats easily fixed later.
Now on to canto XVI. Once thats done I'll be ready for XVII which is halfway through the Inferno and so therefore a kind of milestone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
