Dante's Divine Comedy in 3 Minutes
My Super-Quick Version of a Great Work of Western Literature
We’ve all known the bitter way
Bitter as salt and stone
Our souls grow sick
In this barren and woeful world
Weighted down by our mortal nature
Our eyes fix entirely on things here below
Obstinate ingrates, made hideous by our pride
We turn our hearts away
Oblivious to the vineyard we trample
Undone by our own arrogance
Deceived, entranced, and blinded
By ill-born impieties, empty vanities, and greed
Something snares us, twists us, binds us
In its gnarled roots
We fall backward, lose some of our worth
And what is best in us shines less brightly
Dimly, or not at all
Then we flounder
Blocking Heavenly Light, departing the Light
And walking into the valley of evil
Falling heavily to our soul’s ruin
The beast gnaws at us in a sunless pit
Making our blood run cold
This harsh, horrible, dismal cavern
Houses us in peril, in agony, in sorrow
Each of us is a piteous sight
Forsaken, wretched, and vile
In Hell’s darkened halls and sunken caves
The more we try to flee, the more we’re goaded back
And we lament as all our sin, like poison, turns to pain
But lo, there is the Perfect Mind and Will
Whose whole delight is to bless our souls
And guide us into loving all that is good
Supreme Love, Eternal Love, Fervent Love
The Love from which all things spring
Radiates out in dazzling splendor
Light Supreme, Light Eternal
Encircles and envelops us
Streams to us, shines through us
One Sun to warm and light us all
Our minds reach past this Earthly show
And kindled with sacred purpose
Fix on what is of eternal value
Let the virtues lead us once again
From the warmth and light of that Sun
We receive as much as we fit ourselves to receive
In proportion to the ardor of our love
A pure will is too rare
But we can climb from good to better
We can climb the mountain where we are healed
By the gentle curatives of Love
As we begin to wholly love the good
And grow in our delight in doing good
Our motives are purified by the rays of the Divine Sun
Each motive rendered perfect, ripe, and whole
The Radiance renders luminous our lamps
And grants our souls grace beyond our worth
We become vessels of the Love that has no end
“The Love that moves the sun and the stars”
Interesting, Bill. Yeah, I kinda wrote it for people who don't want to read the whole thing. Thanks.
beautiful! I literally, the real version of that word, picked The Divine Comedy up in the bookstore this week... before putting it back down because I just wasn't feeling up to a 900 page poem. But I'll read it someday. I like this version!