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The following is an ongoing translation I'm in the process of making of Dante's Inferno from the Vernacular Italian---which, as you can imagine, is indeed slow going!
Canto I: The Dark Forest
Midway through my life's journey I found myself in a dark and forbidding wood, surrounded with the briars and brambles of misfortune, the smell of decay strong from rotting leaves.
The straight path that I had thought I was following had long disappeared and even now I tremble to tell the story of the fearful journey I took.
The forest was savage, rough and dark with only a shadowed gray light slipping through the grim skeletal branches.
Even to this day I cannot account for how I awoke from my slumbers to find myself in such an evil place that death seemed only a trifle more to bear.
It seemed as if I had awakened from a nightmare only to find myself in a nightmare for I knew I had abandoned the true way.
I stood at the foot of a mountain that towered above me, its top hidden in a folding of gray clouds streaked with blue-black whose threatening rumble kept me glancing fearfully upward, half-expecting forked lightning to streak down and split asunder gray granite rocks to bury me.
I looked around for an escape but here the wooded valley terminated, leaving the planet's rays to drape the fearful shoulders and shine upon paths that others might follow.
I took a little comfort in that realization and the troubled waters on the fathomless lake within my heart during the night that had passed so piteously grew quiet.
Then, as he who turns with distressed breath to view the foaming waves through which he had just traveled, so did I turn to look again upon that grim pass which no living person had left.
Wearily I sat to rest a moment before resuming my journey—but to where? I glanced around in despair but could find no path leading from that fearful mountain where no grass grew.
At last I rose, determined to climb the desert slope but the way was treacherous indeen and each step upward could only be made when my lower foot was firmly placed.
Suddenly a leopard appeared where the slope began, his spotted skin ominous as were the haw lanterns in his eyes as they fixed upon me a terrifying stare.
Slowly he stalked me, blocking my way each time I tried to turn and return.
The sun rose with the stars that Divine Love had placed to light the darkness and I took comfort in the bits of cold light that came down to me.
Then a fierce lion appeared, head raised as if hunting to satisfy a raging hunger within him, a hunger that throbbed so until the very air seemed to fill and resonate from his presence.
A she-wolf appeared, sides gaunt with hunger and my bear became so intense that I abandoned the height, weeping with frustration, feeling a black melancholy begin to lower its mantle over me.
I gave up all attempts at trying to ascend that forboding slope and withdrew to the bottom of the mountain, always casting wary glances behind me in fear that one of the beasts would use an unguarded moment to attack, but most of all to keep aware of the she-wolf with her lean and hungry look.
Slowly the beasts forced me down the mountain, away from the sunlight to where the sun is silent.
While I hurried down the slope I noticed a gray-shrouded figure emerge in the gathering dark, his silence looming over him.
"Have pity upon me!" I cried, "for I do not know if you are a shade or a man!"
He answered: "Not man, no, not now. But once I walked with a man's form. My parents were from Lombardy and then moved to Mantua.
"I was born late in the time of Julius Caeser and lived in Rome under the rule of good Augustus.
"That was during the time of false and lying gods.
"I was a poet," he said modestly, "and sang the song of the son of Anchises who came from Troy after those tall towers were sundered and the city set to flame.
"But enough of that; why don't you climb the Mountain of Delight which is the source and cause of every joy?"
A feeling of great relief flooded through me and I asked eagerly, "Are you then that same Vergil from whom a fountain springs to become a river of beauty and sublime?"
My forehead burned with the blemish of blush as I continued, sayin, "Oh, great poet of light and honor, you are my master and the author whom I have tried to emulate in that beautiful style that has brought me renown."
I shuddered as I glanced over my shoulder at the beast on the slope above.
"Please," I begged, "protect me, famous Sage, from her for she makes my veins tremble and pulse pound."
"It is evident that you must take another road," he said, when he saw me weeping.
"If you would escape from this savage wilderness, you must not try to go by her for she does not let any pass her way without destroying him.
"Her nature is ruthless and malicious that she never manages to glut her greedy will for she is always hungry and even more so when she has fed.
"She mates with many living souls and will mate with many more until the Gray Hound hunts her to her lair and inflicts painful death upon her.
"He will not feed upon earth or pewter platter, but will make his feast upon wisdom and love and virtue.
"You shall know his coming as his birth will be between Feltro and Feltro.
"He will be the saviour of lower Italy for which the maid Camilla suffered her death wounds as did Euryalus, Turnus, and Nisus.
"He will hunt her through ever city until he manages to drive her back into Hell from whence she came after being released from that world by Envy.
"Therefore," and here he paused, considering me carefully, "I think and judge that it would be best for you to follow me through that eternal place where you will hear the howls of desperation and deep lamentations.
"You will see those discontented spirits who bewail their second death and those souls who are content in the fire for they hope to reach that land where the blessed people dwell.
"If you decide to follow me on this journey, I shall take you to where a soul more worthy than I will guide you.
"In her care I will leave you for that Emperor who reigns above has forbeidden me to go further as I rebelled against HIs law and may not enter His city.
"He governs everywhere but His throne is there.
"Happy indeed are those He elects to enter His city."
And I replied, "Poet, by that God whom you will never know, I beg you to take me from this evil place that I might escape worse evils and lead me to the gateway of Saint Peter and those you describe as sorrowful."
With a grim countenance, he set out and I followed closely behind him.
Canto II
Day slipped away and the darkening air released the weary living beings of the earth from their labors while I prepared myself for the war I would encounter upon my journey and the pity that remains in my memory.
Oh Muses! Oh high genius! Aid me now oh memory that wrote down what I saw. Here your nobility will reveal its perfection!
I began: "Poet—you who guide me—tell me if my manhood is sturdy enough to withstand the arduous journey that lies before us, that rugged pass we must cross.
"You say that the corrupt parent Silvrius first journeyed into the deathless world while yet alive.
"But if Evil’s adversary was courteous to him despite knowing what issue would spring from his loins and the trouble that he would cause by founding Rome and her empire that was destined to become the sacred seat of Peter’s successor, this does not seem unreasonable.
"Through this journey you claim he made he discovered many things that served him to advantage and helped him to the papal robes.
"Afterwards the Chosen Vessel traveled to the despondent realm to bring back assurance of that faith that marks the beginning of salvation.
"But why should I make the same journey? I, who am mortal? I am not Aeneas or Paul and do not think myself to be as worthy as they. Nor do others think me as worthy.
"Therefore I am reluctant to set forth on what seems to be an impetuous journey that may prove to be wild and empty. Tell me, Poet; you are wiser than my simple words."
Fear? That was certainly with me. I wanted to unwill what had been willed and now that we had started forward to a new end, I wanted desperately to back away from the beginning. The dark hillside chilled me and I fervently wished that I had not set off upon that journey.
"If I understand your words—and they are very plain-spoken—I can only answer that your soul reeks of cowardice which is not uncommon to man and becomes a burden so heavy that he is distracted from his honorable intentions and he hears phantoms in the wind, the whispers of hobgoblins when shadows fall.
"This cannot be so to free you from such worry, I’ll tell you why I came and what I heard from the first moment when I first felt grief for the pain wracking your spirit.
"I was one of those souls who are suspended between worlds when a lovely lady, saintly and fair, called to me in an angelic voice and implored me to follow her wishes, her commands.
"Her eyes outshone the splendid light of the stars and she spoke in a voice low and gentle.
"She said, ‘Oh spirit of courteous Mantua whose fame still resounds in this world and shall endure as the world endures, my friend, fortune’s minion, has been halted upon the desert slope and turned away from his path in terror and I fear he may already be numbered among the lost. Even now my help may be too late—or so is the thinking in Heaven.
"‘I pray that you will go to him now and with our ornate words release him from his fears and help him so that I might be consoled.
"I, Beatrice, request that you do this," she said. "I come from the place to which I shall return. Love, however, compelled me to come to you. If you help me with this request, I shall speak of you gratefully whenever I am in the presence of my Lord."
Then she paused, waiting for me to speak. "Oh virtuous lady," I said, "through you the whole human race is given reason to bless and be blessed and excels in all things that lie within the heavens within the smaller circles, so worthy is your wish. Even had I already followed your desire I would have acted too late. You do not need to request further.
"But why have you thrown caution to the winds by coming to this dark center to make your request? This is far beneath that vast space to which even now you burn to return."
For a moment I feared I had overstepped myself and that she would not answer me, but then she smiled—oh that radiant smile!—and said, "Because you desire so much to know the reason for the comings and goings of all things, I shall readily tell you why I am not afraid to enter here.
"One should fear only that which has the power to harm us. The innocent have nothing to fear.
"Merciful God has made me so that your misery does not affect me and I can withstand the fiery flames flickering here.
"A gentle lady in Heaven weeps for this journey I ask you to make so that stern judgment above has shattered.
"It is she who sought Lucia and said, ‘The one who has stayed faithful to you now needs your help. I recommend that you do so.
"Lucia, who hates all things cruel, rose and came to me where I was sitting with ancient Rachel.
"She said, ‘Beatrice, who bears God’s praise, why haven’t you helped the man who loves you so deeply that he has left the vulgar ones for you alone?
"Can you not hear his cries of pain? Don’t you see how he fights against Death upon that ruthless river that even the mighty sea shuns?"
No one in this world has ever seen the haste with which I flew to your side to seek your aid for him after she had finished speaking.
And as she asked, I came to snatch you from the path of that wild beast which kept you from ascending that mountain by the shortest path.
What, then, is the reason for you to lag behind? Why does fear thrive in your heart? Where is your daring? Your willingness to travel forward since three blessed women in Heaven’s court are so concerned with you that they watch over you—as my words attest?
Even as small flowers bend and huddle beneath night’s chill and lift grateful faces up from their stems to the light of the sun
so did I forget my exhaustion when a great warmth of bravery rushed into my heart that I—suddenly freed of doubt—spoke with great courage, saying,
"Blessed is the compassionate woman who has helped me! And you, who have behaved so courteously and obeyed so quickly those true words she entrusted to you,
You have so strengthened my heart that I return once again resolute for this journey.
"Lead on! One will guide the two of us. You are my leader, my lord, my master."
Such were my words to him and when he nodded and stepped forward, I entered on the deep and savage way.
Canto III
"Through me is the way into the dolorous city;
Through me the way into eternal grief;
Through me the way to lost humanity;
My heavenly Father was moved by Justice and His Divine Power created me, through His Supreme Wisdom and primal Love.
Nothing is older than I save for those things eternal and I too shall last forever.
Abandon hope all who enter here."
Those words chisled into granite of no determined color disturbed me greatly and I said, "Master, these are harsh words."
Experienced and greatly skilled in answering such doubts, he replied easily, "One must leave all doubts behind him at this point and not hesitate on the path before him but proceed without fear.
We are at that place where I warned you about those wretched souls who no longer enjoy thought."
Still I hesitated and with a gentle smile he placed his hand upon mine and led me into the unknown bourne.
Immediately terrified and angry shrieks echoed from the starless sky so sorrowfully that I wept to be in such a hopeless world.
Strange tongues babbled and shrill voices screamed angrily among violent words and agnozing groans. Hands beat wildly
together, making a loud din that caused the very air to whirl in a ceaseless motion like a desert sand storm.
Horrified, I tried to shove the turbulence from my mind and turned to my guide, saying, "Master, why do these people cry in such agony?"
Grimly he replied, "These are those wretched souls who did not embrace either Heaven or the Dolorous Realm and now
they must reside with those cowardly and self-serving angels who were neither faithful or rebelled against God.
Heaven cast them out so its beauty would not be despoiled by their presence and Hell refused to take them for fear they would weaken Evil by seeming to be martyrs."
I shuddered and said, "Then, tell me, Master, why do they cry so in anguish?" He said, "They must forever grieve for what they have lost.
They have no hope for death to ease their pain and so they yearn for a release from their piteous state whenever they see others pass.
While alive they crept through life without drawing attention to themselves and earned no mercy or justice. We too shall ignore them as we pass."
Yet I could not help to glance at them and saw to my amazement a whirling flag whip ahead so fast that nothing could slow its progress.
Behind that standard stretched an endless line and I wondered how Death could have lain so many so low.
And then I recognized some in that line doomed forever to wait who had been tabbed for greatness yet had ignored all opportunity.
I knew then that all who waited here had their shoulders bent beneath the yoke of loathsome cowardice and that neither God nor His Enbemy could suffer them.
Hordes of wasps and hornets continually stung those naked wretches who ignored life but could not ignore Death
and blood dripped from their bloated faces with their pain-wracked tears to their feet where writhing worms greedily slurped it.
Beyond them I saw a creat crowd waiting to cross a dark river and I asked curiously, "Master, who are these
people who wait so impatiently in this gray light to cross over and by what right do they expect to be granted passage?"
Grimly he replied, "Be patient. When we reach Acheron's banks all will be answered."
Embarrassed that my words may have insulted him, I lowered my eyes to the path we followed and remained silent until we reached the river.
Suddenly an old man appeared from the mist-shrouded river, drifting slowly towards us in a small boat. Time had whitened his hair and as he neared our bank he shouted, "Woe to you!
All you depraved shades surrender your hopes of heaven! I come to take you to the other shore where you will stumble through fire and ice in endless dark. Doomed! Doomed!
What's this?" he asked crossly, glowering at me from grizzled brows. "You there! Still alive, eh? Leave these who are dead!" But when he saw I ignored his order and held my ground,
he yelled, "Take another boat from a different part and cross somewhere else." "Quiet, Charon," said my guide.
"Put up your anger and listen well to my words. Our journey has been willed by the one up there"—he jabbed his finger in the air—"who does His will when He wants and wills His will when He wishes."
The lpilot's grizzled jaws clamped shut tightly at these words and from each eye burnt a wrathful fire that seemed to sear that marshy region.
Naked, nearly fainting from a fearful and and exhaustive wait, the dvead souls grew paler at Charon's wrathful words and began to chatter,
cursing God, humanity, their fathers, their birth-sites, their birth days, their mothers.
They huddled together, weeping in despair, yet they went down to the fearful shore set aside for all who did not fear God enough.
There the demon Charon, eyes glowing like hot coals, cursed them into his boat and if some soul hesitated, Charon beat him with a flailing oar until he entered the crowded boat.
Trembling like autumn leaves falling one by one to the frozen ground until the birth branch is stark and naked,
so tumbled Adam's evil seed into the barren bark like birds flocking to a somber tone.
In intervals they crossed those dark-brown waves, wailing as they waited in new crowds before the others reached the far shore.
"Here, my son," said my gracious guide, "wait those slain by God's wrath in countries from across the world.
Yet divine justice makes them yearn for the other shore and changes fear into desire.
No good soul come this way so ignore Charon's complaints as groundless grumblings. He must have something to yammer about."
Scarce had he finished speaking when the dark earth beneath us trembled so violently that even now I break into a fearful sweat at the memory.
A great wind rose from that tear-drenched earth followed by a cromson light so bright that I squeezed my eyes shut and my senses reeled in confusion.
Then I pitched forward into oblivion.
Canto IV
A clap of thunder rent the numbing cloak covering my brain and I jerked awake like someone violently shaken.
I leaped to my feet and looked wildly around me, trying to discover my whereabouts.
At last I discovered myself perched on the abyss of despair from which depth funneled thunder from endless wailing.
Yet I could not see the bottom of that dark abyss as a gray mist rolled up from its depths and nothing glowed through its blanket.
I glanced at my guide whose face had become pallid. "We shall go down there to the blind world," the poet said. "I'll go first; you follow."
Looking at his gray face, I asked, "How do you expect me to follow when your own fear is reflected in your face?"
He gave me a grim look and said, "Do not mistake the pity I feel for the plight of those tormented souls for your own fear of the unknown.
Come! The long road before us cries for our footsteps!" Abruptly he set out, forcing me to hurry to keep close to him as we entered the first circle of that great abyss.
Here, I heard whispers as faint as quaking aspen leaves, yet those sighs wtill made the very air around us quiver
as they rose in tormented grief from the crowds of men, women, and children who milled around in hushed confusion.
My master said, "Why do you remain silent? Don't you want to know who these spirits are? You must understand what they are before they tell their stories.
These did not sin but neither did they receive any benefit for their virtues as none here received baptism which opens the gate to your faith.
They lived before Christianity so they did not believe in God or worship Him. I share their sad state and can expect no redemption.
For the simple mischance of birth, we are lost and doomed to live in desire forever."
His words weighed like stones upon my heart as I recognized many fine people whose sin of innocence locked them for eternity into limbo.
Yet I could not help but question this eeming finality of Christian way and said, "Master, tell me
if anyone has ever left this circle through good deeds or by another's intervention and traveled to higher glory." He nodded, knowing my question.
"I was not long here," he began, "when a mighty one came crowned with the laurels of victory. He gathered the shade of the first parent and the shades of his son Abel and Noah of the Ark and Moses the Lawgiver and most obedient.
He took the patriarch Abraham and Israel's king David and his father and children adn the woman Rachel for whom he asked.
These and many others He raised to go with Him but no one before them, no human souls, ever acheived salvation."
While he instructed me, we continued our way through the bleak world of spirits packed tightly together like wisps of straw bound tightly into brooms.
We had not traveled far from where I had fainted when I saw a faint light glimmering in the darkness.
We still had a fair distance to travel, but I could make out the faint forms of staunch and honorable people.
"You speak about every art and science with great respect," I said. "So tell me: who are these men who moved around with such respect and quiet dignity that they seem to belong in another place far removed from here?"
He said, "Their names echo honorably even now through the world of the living and into heaven's realm.
This advances them in thought if no deed." While he spoke another voice declared, "Honor to the great poet whose shade has now returned."
The voice paused and I saw in the ensuing quiet four imposing shades approaching, their faces somber, neither sad nor gay.
My Master pointed to the giant shadow, saying, "See the one holding a sword who seems to lead the others?
That is Homer, the lord of epic poetry. Next is Horace who spoke in satires followed by Ovid and Lucan. They grant me
great honor by bestowing the same laurels they wear upon me."
I saw then the great school of brilliant poets led by the sublime one whose work has never been equalled except by eagles.
After they had exchanged pleasantries, they turned and addressed me in a cordial manner that brought a smile to my Master's lips.
A blush of honor rolled through me as these famed men—giants in their time and mine—invited me to joing them and I became the sixth among that elct group of supreme minds.
We continued along our chosen path towards the light, discussing things of the other world that should not be discussed here although then the topics were timely.
At last we came to a magnificent seven-walled castle surrounded by a gentle stream.
We walked over the stream as certainly as we walked on solid earth and with the sages passed through the seven gates. We came to a green meadow and found
it to be inhabited by somber people upon whose shoulders draped the heavy burden of ages. Their grave eyes regarded us carefully as they spoke softly among themselves, passing rare comments from one to the other.
We walked silently to one side of the meadow, a high, open spot filled with luminous light where we watched the scene before us.
Here, on that green meadow, the great spirits came fully visible and still I thrill with having seen them face-to-face in all their glory.
I saw Electra conversing quietly with several companions amond whom I recognized Hector and Aneas and falcon-eyed Caesar bearing arms.
The shades of Camilla and Penthesilea stood across from those of King latinus and his daughter, Lavinia.
I saw Brutus who defeated Tarquin and Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, Cornelia, and to one side, Saladin stood solitary.
In a friendly band of philosophers yet within my line of sight I saw the master of those who understand.
All waited on him respectfully as did Plato and Socrates who stood by his shoulder,
and Democritus, who thought the world revolved by chance and Empedocles, Zeno, Heraclitus, Anaxagoros, Diogenes, and Thales who maintained all things came from water.
I saw Tully and Linus and the herb-gatherer Dioscorides and Seneca the moralist standing with sweet-voiced Orpheus.
Euclid the geometer and Hippocrates, Avicenna, Galen, and Ptolemy stood close to Averrhoës while he spoke about the great philosopher.
I cannot mention all who stood in that meadow of wisdom for I must pay attention to my thesis that often causes me to despair of ever finding the words of reality to explain all.
At last, the six became two as my wise guide led me out of the quiet contemplation into the trembling air.
And I came to a place without light.
Canto Five
In this manner I left the first circle and descended to the second and smaller. Yet here I felt the sting of even greater grief.
Here I found Minos, his ugly face twisted with revulsion, snarling his judgment on all who appeared before him and coiling his tail around the sinners as he assigned them to their proper place for punishment.
When a sinner appeared before the judge, he could not hide his trangressions and would be impelled to confess all before the connoiseur of sin who knew
precisely the place to put that soul. The number of times his great tail looped upon itself told the tale of the sinner's station.
A crowd always gathers before him, faces drawn in doubt and apprehension, waiting for judgment. One by one, they tell their tales, listen, then promptly find themselves flung out into the void away from the judge's presence.
"Ah. You have entered into the house of pain," Minos said with relish when his watchful wrathful eye found me. He waved away his duties for the moment and regarded me disdainfully.
"Take care about the matter in which you enter," he cautioned. "And be equally careful in whom you confide. The gate seems wide, but that is deceptive." Then my guide spoke softly saying, "Stop your shouting—we aren't deaf—and stop trying to interfere.
"This man's journey has already been decreed by fate deliberated by the One on high who can do as He wishes. Don't try to intimidate us with your cranky words!"
I heard quivering doleful notes echoing and forever continuing laments pounded at my senses like hammers.
I came to a dark place where no light fell and a tempest raged like a stormy sea lashed to fury by hard winds.
That infernal hurricane hurled spirits everywhere like storm-tossed leaves, whirling them and lashing them, withdrawing only when they were beaten and exhausted.
Swept away before their sentence could be delivered, the spirits howled their frustration and moaned laments before violently cursing the Divine Power.
These, I learned, were carnal sinners who sacrificed reason for lust.
And just as the wings of starlings lift the birds in large flocks upon cold winter winds, so the carnal sinners were borne by the hurricane's force.
Here, there, up then down, the wind knocked those shades like pins, mocking them, allowing them no hope of rest or respite from pain.
Like chanting cranes chased from east to west in a long file across a darkened sky, the squalling shades screamed their ceaseless protests
while hostile winds wailed wantonly around them. "Master," I asked, "who are these shades borne so wickedly in the vile, dark air?"
He replied, "The first you see is the empress of a region where different tongues are spoken. She chose
a life filled with lust and corruption and tried to erase her disgrace by making such degradation the law of the land.
Semiramis, they called her, and the legends that rose about her claim that she took the place of her husband Ninus and governed where now a Sultan rules.
The one following her killed herself when her love was spurned after she betrayed the ashes of Sichaeus. Then comes Cleopatra who wenched her way wantonly when her lust burned white-hot.
There you see Helen whose lust caused the suffering of an entire world for many evil years that ended only when grand Achilles was felled by love.
See Paris, there Tristan—" and thousands of other shades he named when they tumbled by, listing all who had been brought down by the hand of Love.
As soon as my teacher named each ancient lady and knight around us, a great pity seized me and I said feverishly,
"Poet, would it be possible for me to speak with those two who seem to ride the wind so lightly?"
He said, "When they glide close to you, call to them by that love that guides them—if you desire to converse with them."
When the wind shifted and gently blew them toward us, I raised my voice and said, "Weary souls, come and rest a bit beside us if no rule bans doing so."
As desirous doves descending by firm will soar gracefully through the air on waving wings to their nest
so did these two leave the group around Dido to ride the foul wind to where we stood, so powerful had been my tender call.
As they neared, one spoke, saying, "Oh good and gracious creature who came through this murky air to be with those who bloodied the world,
if the king of the universe suddenly befriended us we would plead for His favor to shine upon you for showing pity for our unhappy end.
We will be happy to pass a bit of time with you and try to help you to understand the ways of this world—as long as the wind ceases to blow.
Where the river Po runs its way to the sandy beaches and joins with its sisters, there also lies the place where I was born.
So quickly did my body's beauty fade that I still protest its passing despite the love that brought this one to me.
Love knows no boundaries and that love so embaraced us with such a passion that, as you see, we remain as one even here.
That Love, which holds each beloved captive to loving, raised such responsive passion in me that we remain as one even here forever.
Love led us together into death. He who took our life, Caina, waits below." These words came gently from them to us.
When I had heard the words of those bruised souls, I bowed my head and remained so until the Poet asked, "What are you thinking now?"
"Ah," I sighed, when I could again speak, "what soothing thoughts, what longing could have led them to such a fate as this?" And again, I turned to them, this time with regret.
"Francesca, your anguished affair forces me to weep with pity and sadness for you. But please, explain one more thing to me, if you will:
When those sweet sighs filled the air around you, by what means did love let such longings for each other to creep into your awareness?"
She smiled sadly and said, "There is no greater sorrow than to recall those times when you are happiest. Surely your teacher knows this.
But, if you are so anxious to understand the beginning of our love, I will weep while we speak together.
One day we passed the time by reading how passion conquered Lancelot where no knight could. We read along, innocently, without suspicion about what might happen to us.
As we read, our eyes chanced to meet and our faces paled, the sweet blushes came across our cheeks and the seeds of our destruction were sown.
When we read how love's magnificent smile was gently kissed by another, the other so kissed me and we were linked together eternally by that kiss.
While he kissed my mouth, I trembled with love: the author and book were a Galehot and, together, we gently put down the book and forever closed its cover."
While the one spirit spoke, the other wept so freely that I clutched my head in pity and fainted like one suddenly gripped in the arms of Death.
Then I fell, as such a body falls when embraced by Death.
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