Sonnet I on Dante's Divine Comedy by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

See the sender's note for more information!

Sender’s note: Hello all, Flynn here. Thanks for making it to the end, especially if you were with us from the start :) As I said a couple of months ago, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to continue the newsletter for its next intended cycle, but I hope to do so. In the meantime, in the Project Gutenberg text for Longfellow’s translation of the Comedy, the Appendix hosts six sonnets on the Comedy written by Longfellow. I thought it would be apt to send these out after we finished our rounds. Please enjoy!

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SIX SONNETS ON DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
(1807-1882)

I

Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
    A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,
    Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet
    Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o’er;
    Far off the noises of the world retreat;
    The loud vociferations of the street
    Become an undistinguishable roar.
So, as I enter here from day to day,
    And leave my burden at this minster gate,
    Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,
The tumult of the time disconsolate
    To inarticulate murmurs dies away,
    While the eternal ages watch and wait.