Virgil Speaks to Dante in Hell, by Neil Creighton

Dante and Virgil in Hell, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (France). 1850.

Virgil Speaks to Dante in Hell.

My friend, note the perfect form,
the beauty of musculature,
the balance and symmetry of body.

You reel from the savagery,
the ferocity of tooth and claw,
the primal tearing at the throat.

This is the beginning of sorrows.
Stone and stick will replace tooth, 
then devices sufficient to destroy all life.

Tremble not, nor quail. Ascend,
leave this darkness, take your light,
reveal truth to the living.

Though darkness holds sway
hearts are not in hardness fixed.
In knowledge and truth is power.

Go. Climb upwards. Lament. 
Warn. Prophesy. Paint. Sing.
Reveal not just what they are.

Open hearts to what they can be.

Neil Creighton
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This poem was written as part of the Halloween ekphrastic challenge.

Neil Creighton is an Australian poet with a passion for social justice and a love of the natural world. Recent publications include "Poetry Quarterly", "Silver Birch Press", "Praxis Online", "South Florida Poetry Journal" and "Verse-Virtual", where he is a contributing editor. His poetry blog iswindofflowers.blogspot.com.au
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