DANTE INFERRED
Canto XXX

... a la miseria del Maestro Adamo

io ebbi, vivo, assai di quel ch’i’ volli,
e ora, lasso!, un gocciol d’acqua bramo.
Li ruscelletti che de’ verdi colli
del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno,
faccendo i lor canali freddi e molli,
sempre mi stanno innanzi, e non indarno,
ché l’imagine lor vie piú m’asciuga
che ’l male ond’ io nel volto mi discarno.
La rigida giustizia che mi fruga
tragge cagion del loco ov’ io peccai
a metter piú li miei sospiri in fuga.


61










72
Thirtieth Chance

On the mystery of Master Atom
who ebbs in life as in its sequel:
alas! the waters of Abraham are cold,
the rustle of etiquette calls
and the house descends on its guest.
Who will fetch Lorca, or other friends --
the ones that stand and announce their arms,
who imagine love in all its plumes,
who mail one another their discarded revolts?
The gusts come frugal over the ridge
and the delicate cages rattle their eggs
to the beat of a spurious fugue.
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