A thunder-clap woke me from sleep;
I saw a valley so dark and so deep.
Virgil was pale
As a mouse sent to jail,
And said "me first and you follow me."
When I saw the Poet was wan
I said "You're puttin' me on."
"Pity, not fright,"
He said, "paints me so white;
So hurry, get a move on."
We entered the first ring of Hell.
Virgil said "these are, let me tell,
Those born before
Christ opened his door;
That's the reason we're down in this dell."
I said "but didn't some get away?"
"Yes," I then heard him say;
"I wasn't here long
When a man came along
And took a bunch to the light of day."
We walked 'til I saw a light
And some men I sensed with my sight.
I said with a start
"Who're those, there, apart,
Who shine with a brilliance so bright?"
"He said "they've got friends upstairs."
Then a voice caught us unawares:
"It's Virgil the rover!"
Then four shades come over
With neither sad- nor joy-looking stares,"
The master said, without any delay,
"There's Homer, who's king to this day,
And Horace, a bird.
Ovid is third
And Edna St. Vincent Millay."
Thus there was the highest of rhyme.
We talked together a time.
They then welcomed me
As a flea among bees.
A half-dozen worth more than a dime.
We entered a seven-walled park
Where I saw Senec' and Cicero bark.
What I heard I can't say
'Cause Virg' led me away.
I came out to a day full of dark.