cerberus

Al tornar de la mente,che si chiuse
dinanzi a la pietà d’i due cognati,
che di trestizia tutto mi confuse,
novi tormenti e novi tormentati
mi veggio intorno, come ch’io mi mova
e ch’io mi volga, e come che io guati.
Io sono al terzo cerchio, de la piova
etterna, maladetta, fredda e greve;
regola e qualità mai non l’è nova.
Grandine grossa, acqua tinta e neve
per l’aere tenebroso si riversa;
pute la terra che questo riceve.
Cerbero, fiera crudele e diversa,
con tre gole caninamente latra
sovra la gente che quivi è sommersa.
Li occhi ha vermigli, la barba unta e atra,
e ’l ventre largo, e unghiate le mani;
graffia li spirti, ed iscoia ed isquatra.
Urlar li fa la pioggia come cani;
de l’un de’ lati fanno a l’altro schermo;
volgonsi spesso i miseri profani.
Quando ci scorse Cerbero, il gran vermo,
le bocche aperse e mostrocci le sanne;
non avea membro che tenesse fermo.
E ’l duca mio distese le sue spanne,
prese la terra, e con piene le pugna
la gittò dentro a le bramose canne.
Qual è quel cane ch’abbaiando agogna,
e si racqueta poi che ’l pasto morde,
ché solo a divorarlo intende e pugna,
cotai si fecer quelle facce lorde
de lo demonio Cerbero, che ’ntrona
l’anime sì, ch’esser vorrebber sorde.
.............................................................................................

Returning to the consciousness I'd lost
In the pathos of those kindred lovers
Whose plight completely baffled me with grief,

I see new sufferings and new suffering souls
5 Surrounding me no matter where I walk,
No matter where I turn or where I look.

I am in the third circle, a place of rain
Accursed, freezing, heavy, and unending:
Its density and direction never change.

10 Huge hailstones, mucky sleet and snow
Keep pouring down through the gloom-filled air
So that the soil that sucks it in is putrid.

Cerberus, that weird and vicious beast,
15 Howls like a mad-dog out of all three throats,
Baying above the people wallowing here.

His eyes are red, his beard is greasy black,
His belly bloated and talon-sharp his hands:
He claws the spirits, skins and splits them up.

The downpour forces them to howl like hounds.
20 Making a shield of one flank, then the other,
The impious wretches flip and flop about.

When the fat worm Cerberus had seen us,
He opened up his mouths and showed his fangs.
He stood there quivering in every muscle.

25 Then my guide, reaching down his hands,
Scooped up the earth and hurtled two fistfuls
Straight into those three rapacious jaws.

Just as a dog that barks when he is hungry,
Then quiets down while gnawing on his food,
30 Struggling and straining just to swallow it,

Such was the change in the filth-spattered faces
Of the demon Cerberus thundering loudly
Against the souls who wish that they were deaf.




paolo_voto@hotmail.it