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Dante and Virgil

When lost Francesca sobbed her broken tale

Of love and sin and boundless agony,

While that wan spirit by her side did wail

And bite his lips for utter misery

The grief which could not speak, nor hear, nor see

So tender grew the superhuman face

Of one who listened, that a mighty trace

Of superhuman woe gave way, and pale

The sudden light up-struggled to its place;

While all his limbs began to faint and fail

With such excess of pity. But, behind,

The Roman Virgil stood the calm, the wise

With not a shadow in his regal eyes,

A stately type of all his stately kind.