The Wrathful
Canto XVI
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Canto XVI - The Wrathful

" No gloom in Hell, nor of a night allowed
no planet under it’s impoverished sky,
the deepest dark that my be drawn by cloud;

ever drew such a veil across my face
nor one whose texture rasped my senses so,
as did the smoke that wrapped us in that place.”

— Translation by John Ciardi

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The Wrathful

“Just as a blind man, lest he lose his road
or tumble headlong and be just or killed,
walks at his guides back when he goes abroad —
so moved I through that foul and acrid air, led by my sweet Friend’s voice, which kept repeating:
‘Take care. Do not let go of me. Take care.’ ”

- Ciardi