Young Writers Society

“What do the poems say?” the freak asked.

He frowned. “The first one is from a book I translated, working for Claude. It goes like this, ‘Per me si va ne la città dolente, per me si va ne l'etterno dolore, per me si va tra la perduta gente. Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore: fecemi la divina podestate, la somma sapienza e 'l primo amore. Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create se non etterne, e io etterno duro. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.’ It is from a book about a man’s journey in hell. You see, before he can enter paradise, he must go through this hell and work his way through the various layers of different torments. It was a rather disturbing book to translate, if only because the tortures were so imaginative that it was frightening. This passage comes just before he enters a place where people have never known God. He sees a sign over this gate, with the poem inscribed in it.”


The freak frowned. “Does he understand the poem?”
Sadie’s father smiled. “Of course he does. This story was written in that language originally. However, he doesn’t understand the meaning of the poem. The poem starts with ‘For me you come to the pained city, for me you enter everlasting pain.’ He is entering hell, you see? He is coming into a world without love, without God. The poem continues in its riddle form, speaking of justice, power, wisdom and love, in absolute terms. The ending, ‘Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate,’ is familiarly known as ‘Abandon all hope, all ye that enter.’”

“Hăo, hăo, she’s day-ting some brown boy--qīng zhēn,” She said. Muslim. “Huài dàn, mmm?”

Rotten egg.