What Dante Told Me
The golden crescent of the moon
was shining through my window
when I fell asleep.
Soon a soft astral darkness enveloped me
bringing along a vivid and strange dream.
A bright sun was shining in the firmament
and I found myself in a Tuscan landscape,
hiking on the old Via Apia.
It was an early afternoon
and suddenly I saw a man in the distance
walking toward me from the south.
As he came closer I recognized him.
It was the poet Dante Alighieri.
'Oh, Sommo Poeta',
I accosted him timidly,
'Please, tell me, does love really exist,
or is it just a romantic figment
of our wishful imagination?
Can love be really perfect,
unconditional and eternal? '
Dante gave me a long inquisitive look.
And then, after a pensive silence
he began to speak:
'Amor himself once told me', he said,
'Ego tanquam centrum circuli,
cui simili modo
se habent circumferentiae partes:
Tu autem non sic! '
But what does this mean? ' I asked.
'It means'. he explained,
'that I'm as the centre of a circle,
to which the parts of the circumference
have a similar relation:
However, you are not so.'
'You forgive me', I said,
'but even in translation
I don't understand it.'
'Well, it means', he said,
'that you shouldn't demand more
than what life can afford to you.'
poem by Paul Hartal
Added by Poetry Lover
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