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”