For those not present at Montefegatesi’s Poetry Corner on August 20th here’s my contribution to the event:
A Sonnet for Dante at the Orrido di Botri’s Gate
Upon the edge where blackened cliffs descend,
A canyon yawns beneath the noonday sun—
Its mouth, a silence where the dark things run,
Reminds me of the path no soul would wend.
As Dante stood where hell began to bend
With Virgil’s hand and circles yet undone,
So do I pause—my shadow half begun—
Afraid of what such depths might comprehend.
The wind here speaks in whispers, cracked and low,
Like shades who lost their names in grief and fire,
Its breath, a warning wrapped in solemn woe
To turn from paths that echo dark desire.
Yet still I peer—like Dante drawn to flame—
To learn if sin and truth are but the same.
And here is its translation into the language of Dante’s age (somehow it sounds better!)
Un Sonetto per Dante alle Porte dell’Orrido di Botri tradotto in toscano medioevale
Sul ciglio ove li scuri poggi calano,
S’apre l’abisso al mezzo dì lucente—
La bocca muta, ond’esce corso assente,
Rimembra ’l calle che li spirti e’ talano.
Sì come Dante stette, e già s’avvalano
Li giri d’Infernal regno possente,
Con la man di Virgilio al suo presente,
Così m’arresto, e l’ombre in me s’aggalano.
Quivi favella ’l vento in rotta voce,
Sì come d’ombre perse in foco e in duolo;
Lo fiato porta segno e messa croce,
che torni l’uom da disïar sì solo.
Pur miro innanzi, e, come fiamma atroce,
Cerco s’errore e ver sian d’uno stuolo.
In case you haven’t been to the Orrido di Botri canyon here’s my account of a walk we did around it:
