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. In the same fashion that I sent them out for the last round, I intend to close our journey with six sonnets that Longfellow wrote on the Comedy, hosted in the Project Gutenberg text. Please enjoy!
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.