Aye then, the doorway locked beneath I heard Of that infernal tower: I gazed upon

The faces of my sons without a word.

I wept not; inwardly I turned to stone:
They wept; and first my dearling Anselm said,
"What ails thee, Father? such thy look is grown?"
I shed no tear for this: nor answered

All that same day: nor till the night was gone :
At last, another sun was overhead.

Then, as a scanty ray of light there shone
Into the doleful dungeon, and I read

In their four aspects what must be mine own,
I bit both hands for anguish, hard bestead :
But they, misdeeming it was for distress
Of hunger, in a moment rose, and said,

"Feed, Father dear, on us, so we the less Shall grieve: do thou, who didst our flesh bestow, Strip off these miserable limbs their dress."

I held my peace; words had but fed their woe. Mute that day, mute the next, did we abide ; Merciless earth, that didst not yawn below!

But when there came another morning tide Then Gaddo fell; and, by my feet reclined, "My Father, wherefore help'st me not?" he cried;

I

Quivi morì: e, come tu mi vedi, Vid' io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno, Tra 'l quinto dì e 'l sesto: ond' io mi diedi Già cieco a brancolar sopra ciascuno, E due dì gli chiamai poiche fur 'morti: Poscia, più che 'l dolor potè 'l digiuno."

Quand' ebbe detto ciò, con gli occhi torti Riprese 'l teschio misero co' denti

Che furo all' osso, come d' un can, forti.

And lived no more. I, whom they left behind, I saw those three fall slowly, one by one, In the fifth day and sixth: and, now all blind,

I groped about me after every son :

Two days I called upon their names, though dead;
Then, grief was worsted, and the Famine won."
With savage glance awry, when he had said,
He griped anew the wretched scull; his teeth
Sharp as a mastiff's on that caitiff head.

1837.

The Lord's Prayer.

PURGATORIO, C. XI. 1-21.

O PADRE nostro, che ne' cieli stai,
Non circoscritto, ma per più amore
Ch' a' primi effetti di lassù tu hai;
Lodato sia 'l tuo nome e 'l tuo valore
Da ogni creatura, com' è degno
Di render grazie al tuo dolce vapore.
Vegna ver noi la pace del tuo regno,

Che noi ad essa non potem da noi,
S'ella non vien, con tutto nostro 'ngegno.
Come del suo voler gli angeli tuoi

Fan sagrificio cantando Osanna, Così facciano gli uomini de' suoi. Da oggi a noi la cotidiana manna, Senza la qual per quest' aspro diserto A retro va chi più di gir s' affanna. E come noi lo mal ch' avem sofferto Perdoniamo a ciascuno, e tu perdona Benigno, e non guardar al nostro merto.

Nostra virtù, che di leggier s'adona,

Non spermentar con l' antico avversaro,
Ma libera da lui, che sì la sprona.

O FATHER ours, that dwellest in the sky,
Not circumscribed, but for Thy love intense
To Thy first Emanations there on high ;
Let each and every creature that hath sense

Praise Thee, Thy name, Thy goodness, as 'tis fit
They render thanks for Thy warm effluence.
Thy kingdom come; Thy peace too come with it,
Which, if it come not by Thy gift divine,
Comes not to us by strength of human wit.
As of their wills the angel Powers to Thine,
Chanting Hosanna, render sacrifice;

So may we men our human wills resign.
Each day give daily manna from the skies,

Without the which, in this rough desert place
He backward slides who forward busiest hies.

And as we pardon each to each, efface

And blot away, benign, our heavier debt,
Nor hold our ill deserts before Thy face.

Our virtue, weak and easily beset,

Oh hazard not with the inveterate foe
That vexeth sore; but free us from his net.