By Dante, translated by John Ciardi Submitted by Kirk Date: 2007 Apr 03 Comment on this Work [[2007.04.03.09.56.5817]] |
"On a day for dalliance we read the rhyme of Lancelot, how love had mastered him. We were alone with innocence and dim time. Pause after pause that high old story drew our eyes together while we blushed and paled; but it was one soft passage overthrew our caution and our hearts. For when we read how her fond smile was kissed by such a lover, he who is one with me alive and dead breathed on my lips the tremor of his kiss. That book, and he who wrote it, was a pander. That day we read no further." |