And I began: "Master, I should like, it it were possible,

I' cominciai:"Poeta, volontieri

To speak to those two who are coming side by side,

parlerei a quei due ch'nsieme vanno

And seem to be so light upon the wind.

e paion sí al vento esser leggieri

He said to me: you only have to ask them,

Ed elli a me:'Vedrai quando saranno

Invoking the love that brings them, and they will come.

piú presso a noi li priega

per quello amor che i mena, ed ei verranno'.

As soon as the wind blew them to where we were standing,

Sí tosto come il vento a noi li piega,

I raised my voice: O you two panting spirits,

mossi la voce:"O anime affanate,

come now and speak to us, if it is not forbidden.

venite a noi parlar, s'altri nol niega!"

And they said:

'O kind and gracious living creature

O animal gracïozo e benigno

who go through the darkened air to visit us,

che visitando vai per l'aere perso

Although when alive, we dyed the world with blood;

noi che tingnemmo il mondo di sanguigno,

If the king of the universe were our friend,

si fosse amico il re dell'universo

We would pray to him that you should have peace,

noi pregheremmo lui della tua pace,

Because you pity our perversity

poi ch'ai pietà del nostro mal perverso.

 

Matters it pleases you to hear and speak of,

Di quel che udire e che parlar vi piace,

We will now hear and speak about to you,

noi udiremo e paralremo a vui,

While the wind is silent, as it is now.

mentre che l'vento, come fa, ci tace.

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Painting: Detail from Ari Scheffer's The Shadows of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appear to Dante and Virgil. 19th century. Full-sized image (41.9kb)