William Blake

I am obliged to versify new sorrows
   and give form to the twentieth canto of the
   first volume, which is for th' over-loaded ones.
I was thus wholly oriented to looking
   into the naked depth which is with
   anguished crying drenched; and through the
circular valley did I see people coming,
   in silence and weeping, over the pass
   as when they offer Litany in this world.
As my view went down deeper beyond them,
   in manner marvelous did each seem torqued
   between the chin and upper breast; for the
face was turned to the back, and happened
   to face backwards, since for foreseeing
   was foresight taken away from them.
Perhaps already by the force of being
   paralyzed is each of them carried off in
   toto; but I did see such, and don't believe
what it was. If God permits you, oh my
   reader, to receive the fruits of your learning,
   then go think on your own about how I
was able to maintain with dry eyes, when
   I saw our human form so wrenched that th' eyes'
   weeping did bathe their butt-cheeks down the crack.
Sure, I so wept, leaning on one of the stones
   upon the rugged rock, that my guide to me said:
   "Are you still among the other fools? In this
place, piety lives when it is quite dead;
   who is more corrupted than the man that
   applies passion to almighty judgment?[30
Head's up, look up, and look upon him by
   whose eyes the land of Thebes was opened up;
   so did all people shout, 'Where you off to,
Amphiaraus? -- why're you leaving the fight?'
   And he stopped not heading headlong, on
   to Minos, who grasping seizes every last.
Note that he made his shoulder-blades into
   breast: since he wanted to see too far on a-
   head, he's looking backwards and makes his way in
reverse. Look at Tiresius, who altered the way
   he looked when he changed into female from
   masculine, exchanging as many members as each
one; and then, when his first chance to retort
   the two serpents intertwined, with a rod,
   came up, he got back his maculine plume.
Aruns is the man that is by belly backed
   into, who in the mountains of Luna where
   the man of Carrara living below the top
does farm, had amid the gleaming marble a
   cave for his dwelling; hence in watching o'er
   the stars and sea was the view cut off not from
him. And she who covers up her breasts once more,
   whom you did not see, with the braids loosened, and
   has hairy flesh all over for them, was Manto
that did look over many countries; then
   settled she over where I was born,
   whence my slim pleasure in perceiving such.
Then as her father passed on from this world, and
   made Bacchus's town tributary, she laid her
   head to rest throughout the world for a long[60
time. 'round about lovely Italy there
   lies a lake, at the foot of the very Alps
   which Germany limits opposite Tyrol
County: its name is Riva del Garda. It is
   fed, I do believe, by a thousand streams between
   Tyrol, Val Camonica and Brescia, the standing
water in said lake. The place is there in the midst
   of where the pastor from Trent, Lombardy
   and Verona should offer blessing, if they make it
that way. Lovely and well-defended, Peschiera
   del Garda, in facing the people of Brescia and
   Bergamo, is near where the river descends.
There it happens that every bit of flow that
   falls, when it can't remain in the bosom of
   Lago Benaco, becomes a stream throughout
th' emerald pastures. Right as the water comes running
   from its source, where it's no longer called Benaco,
   but Mincio to beyond Mantua, it feeds in-
to the Po. Its course does not run far before
   it hits a plain where it stretches out at marsh-
   land; and it's accustomed to be so wretched in
state. Then, in passing the base virgin saw a
   land, in the middle of the bog, which was
   culture-free and stripped of its inhabitants.
There, for the purpose of needing to flee
   human association all, she went
   to reside with servants by own devices:
she existed, and left body empty there. The
   people who got scattered about there, were
    collected in that place, for it was reinforced by[90
the marsh which all but surrounds it in full. They
   built the town o'er the bones of their dead; and through
   him who selects the place first, called it
Mantua, casting not one single lot. Used to
   be that its people were far more crowded in-
   side, before Casalodi's ineptitude took
Pinamonte's fabrication. So I'm leveling with
   you: if y' ever hear of my home country starting
   any different, the truth misleads no lie."
& I'm like: "Master, your rationales were
   so sure to me, and inspire my faith so
   much, that the other lumps of coal of mine are
embers. But do tell me whether you see
   any noteworthy, of the preceding
   people; since to this alone my mind makes
reference." Next he told me: "He that unfurls
   his beard from jowls to brunette shoulders, back
   when Greece was stripped empty of its males,
so scarcely any remained in their cradle --
   he did practice divination, and determined
   the point with Calchas, at Aulis, to give
sail to wind first. Eurypylus was
   the name, as my lofty epic somewhere
   sings: you who know it all do know so much.
That other that's so lean of flanks was Michael
   Scots, who understood in truthfulness the
   game of fraudulent magic. Look upon
Guido Bonatti; see Asdente, who
   would rather he had focused on his cord
   and leather, but too late regrets it. Look[120
at the doleful women who abandoned
   sewing, weaving and spinning, and became
   sooth-sayers; spells they cast, with herbs and image.
But come on now, for already does Cain
   reach the limits of either two hemispheres
   and goes to the sea, he and his horns; the
moon was just this last night at full: make sure
   you remember this very well, since it did
   not, in the deep woods, harm you even once."
So he spoke to me, and went we onward.