★

“My son, you've seen the temporary fire
and the eternal fire; you have reached
the place past which my powers cannot see.
I've brought you here through intellect and art;
from now on, let your pleasure be your guide;
you're past the steep and past the narrow paths.
Look at the sun that shines upon your brow;
look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs
born here, spontaneously, of the earth.
Among them, you can rest or walk until
the coming of the glad and lovely eyes--
those eyes that weeping, sent me to your side.
Await no further word or sign from me:
your will is free, erect, and whole-- to act
against that will would be to err: therefore
I crown and miter you over yourself”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume 2: Purgatorio

“As once I loved you in my mortal flesh, without it now I love you still.”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume 2: Purgatorio

“E chi avesse voluto conoscere Amore, fare lo potea mirando lo tremare de li occhi miei.”
― Dante Alighieri, Vita Nuova

“That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell.”
― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf