Canto VII

'Pape Satan, Demon Leader!' 1
Plutus screams O fearful reader.
As shook I from the demon's cries
The gentle sage, my noble guide, 4
He taps me on the arm and says
'Stay true upon this troubled way,
This monster has no power here
So follow close, the way is shear.' 8
Then turned he to the demon there
And silenced him with ringing glare
'O Plutus don't torment you're mind
His passage has been blessed you'll find 12
Upon your spite thy soul should feed
While down we go on journey deep!'
So demon drops like wind starved sail
As walked we on to Devil's dale, 16
Then found ourselves by purple shore
Where all the ills of world were stored.
'This is the Styx' My master says
As watched I this foul water spray 20
With spirits locked within its depths
That writhe in pain while fight for breath.
And all around us spirits roll
Great stones that bind their mortal souls 24
In fourth ditch down of prison round
Where guilty those of greed are found.
And all of these before me ranged
Would walk about till bumped then change 28
To turn and push this useless rock
Around again till next was knocked
While all the time at every turn
They cry in pain for Heaven spurned 32
‘Why do you waste? Why do you squander?’
They call aloud as round they wander
And then again with stinging cries
As push to second point they try. 36
‘Who are these souls who toil below?’
I asked my guide with voice set low.
He answered me with sideways look
And then his head he slowly shook. 40
‘These souls to left and souls to right
Were squint of mind in former life.’
And I in sadness, heart pierced through
As watched I all these sinners screwed 44
‘Do I know these?’ I quickly asked
As looked I down on pitied mass
He looked at me and answered thus
‘They’re all the same that greed has brushed, 48
These misers who endured the fall,
Their faces lost beyond recall,
They sold their souls for gems and cold
Now live they here in toil and scold. 52
Ill giving and ill keeping cost
These sinners in this land of sobs.
And not enough gold now exists
To stop these souls eternal twist. 56
Now those who cheated fortune fair
Here find their souls neath Plutus glare.
Away with we, no pity here!’
He scolded as he led me clear. 60
‘But who this ‘Fortune’ you describe?’
I asked as watched I wretched tribe.
‘O dullard, my pupil, how dumb can you be?
Why Fortune is goddess of destiny’s tree. 64
When God the Almighty the Heavens he made
He put Fortune amongst us to circumstance trade.
Now all who exist live on destiny’s path
Where you future lies wait like a rake in the grass.’ 68
And then Virgil looks up to tell he the time
Then says he abruptly ‘Now downward we climb.’
And so we toil to the far distant shore
That fills from a spill on high water course. 72
Together we stand by these shadowy waves
That terminate sudden this pathway most strange.
Besides the foul waters that’s known as the Styx,
Its surface all slimed with the scum it was slicked. 76
And all of these sinners against each the railed
Their brothers about them with fist they did flail,
And tore at each other with nails and with teeth
As foul and enraged they each other there beat. 80
‘Now here resides,’ my guide then says
Those quick to rage at every breath
And others who did sullen sigh
When air was bright and sun was high.’ 84
And sinners foul of both these types
Were locked within these waters ripe
And as we left by wails were chased
From there unto far towers base. 88


So this was canto VII, it required a little re-writing but a whole lot of re-ordering.