ON A FLY LEAF OF DANTE

[ZaunköniG]

ON A FLY LEAF OF DANTE

LET whoso enters here remember well,
That nevermore with unanointed eyes.
Shall he to whom the palms of Paradise
Have waved a welcome, and the streets of Hell

Flamed with red terrors, walk where mortals dwell;
Henceforth he shall behold dim mysteries
In common things, and how men's destinies —
Love, hope and death — from obscure founts upwell.

Thus was it that, with vision sadly keen.
From shadowy realms of unimagined pain.
From sun-crowned heights of joy where thou hadst been,

Unto this babbling world thou cam'st again ;
But always on thy woe. O Florentine,
Thy saint's sweet memory fell like summer rain.