Dante Alighieri — People

A brown quill lies across a torn handwritten paper scrap beside a dark ink spiral on warm cream ground. — Original artwork

But here I can’t be still; and by the lines of this my Comedy, reader, I swear- and may my verse find favor for long years.

Dante Alighieri

Small open wooden door and shallow threshold, no signage or person, inside original centered crop envelope — Original artwork

Here one must leave behind all hesitation; here every cowardice must meet its death.

Dante Alighieri

A dark partly inverted umbrella hangs against swirling violet storm clouds. — Original artwork

Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries were echoing across the starless air, so that, as soon as I set out, I wept.

Dante Alighieri

An open book rests beside a crumpled gold wrapper with glowing sparks rising from it on a dark wooden surface. — Original artwork

May God so let you, reader, gather fruit from what you read.

Dante Alighieri

A pale sandy path curves around dark rocks and disappears into soft gray mist. — Original artwork

Moving again, I tried the lonely slope- my firm foot was always the one below.

Dante Alighieri

A silver foil bird with angular wings hangs beside a curling pale-blue ribbon against indigo. — Original artwork

O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?

Dante Alighieri

Silently, alone, no one escorting us, we made our way- one went before, one after- as Friars Minor when the walk together.

Dante Alighieri

A glowing firefly above a small dark mound on an ink-blue hill. — Original artwork

The day was now departing; the dark air released the living beings of the earth from work and weariness.

Dante Alighieri

Painterly cracked brass compass partly buried in grey ash and glowing embers. — Original artwork

The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserved their neutrality.

Dante Alighieri

Three carved theatrical masks in black, charcoal and pale grey show different degrees of frowning against slate. — Original artwork

There is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time in the midst of wretchedness. "Inferno," cto. 5, l. 121-3

Dante Alighieri

Gold ribbon curls upward from a spool on a small blue hill beneath a pale sky. — Original artwork

The time was the beginning of the morning; the sun was rising now in fellowship with the same stars that had escorted it when Divine Love first moved those things of beauty.

Dante Alighieri

When I had journeyed half of our life’s way, I found myself within a shadowed forest, for I had lost the path that does not stray.

Dante Alighieri