The Poetry Corner

Dante and Virgil

By Henry Kendall

When lost Francesca sobbed her broken tale Of love and sin and boundless agony, While that wan spirit by her side did wail And bite his lips for utter misery The grief which could not speak, nor hear, nor see So tender grew the superhuman face Of one who listened, that a mighty trace Of superhuman woe gave way, and pale The sudden light up-struggled to its place; While all his limbs began to faint and fail With such excess of pity. But, behind, The Roman Virgil stood the calm, the wise With not a shadow in his regal eyes, A stately type of all his stately kind.