Clive James’ cadenced translation of Dante includes this lovely image of walking and talking, talking and walking, with neither slowing the other. He masterfully conveys a walking rhythm in his rendition. 

It also reminded me of long evening walks with friends when we stay at their home in Austria. There are four of us and we usually naturally divide into two-plus-two, with one pair pulling ahead, the other falling back as they become engrossed in conversation.  The pattern is constant but the configuration of pairs changes.

Send me a description of a walk you have enjoyed – or would like to do – with someone in which:

‘The going did not slow the talk, the talk

Slowed not the going.’ 

 

Source: Dante,The Divine Comedy (Purgatory, Canto 24), trans. Clive James (New York: Liveright Publishing, 2013), p. 295

Photo credit: Annie Spratt at unsplash.com

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