Through me the way to the city of woe,
Through me the way to everlasting pain,
Through me the way among the lost.

Justice moved my maker on high.
Divine power made me,
Wisdom Supreme, and Primal Love.

Before me nothing was but things eternal,
and eternal, I endure.
Abandon All Hope, you who enter here.

These words, dark in Hue, I saw inscribed
over an archway. And then I said:
"master, for me their meaning is hard"

And he, as one who understood:
'Here you must banish all distrust,
here must all cowardice be slain

'We have come to where I said
you would see miserable sinners
Who have lost the good of the intellect.'

And after he had put his hand on mine
With a reassuring look that gave me comfort,
He led me toward things unknown to man.

Now sighs,Loud wailing, lamentation
Resounded through the starless air,
So that I too began to weep.

Unfamiliar tongues, horrendous accents
Words of suffering, cries of rage, voices
Loud and faint, the sound of slapping hands–

All these made a tumult, always whirling
In that black and Timeless air,
As sand is swirled in a whirlwind.

And I, my head encircled by error, said:
'Master,What is this I hear, And what people
Are these so overcome by pain?'

And he to me:'This Miserable state Is borne
By the wretched souls of those who lived
Without disgrace yet without praise.

'They intermingle with that wicked band
Of angels, Not rebellious and not faithful
To God, who held themselves apart.

'Load to impair its beauty,Heaven casts them out,
And Depth of hell does not receive them
Lest on their account the evil angels gloat.'

And I:' Master, what is so grievous to them,
That they lament so bitterly?'
He replied: 'can tell you in Few words.

' The world does not permit report of them.
Mercy and justice hold Them In contempt.
Let us not speak of them – look and pass by.'

And I, all eyes, Saw a whirling Banner
That ran so fast it seemed as though
it never could find rest.

Behind itCame so long a file of people
That I could not believe
Death Had undone so many.

After I recognized a few of these
I saw a knew the shade of him
Who, through cowardice, made the great refusal

At once with certainty I understood
this was the worthless crew
Hateful alike to God And to his foes.

These red shoes, never were alive,
were naked and beset
Buy stinging flies and wasps


That made their faces stream with blood,
Which, mingled with their tears,
Was gathered at their feet by Loathsome worms.

And then, fixing my gaze farther on,
I saw souls standing on the shore of A wide river,
AndSo I said:'Master, permit me first

'Two know who they are and then what inner law
makes them so eager for the Crossing,
Or so they seem in this dim light.'

And he to me:' you shall know these things,
But not before we stay our steps.....