Where I could see an opening
As this strange and straitened year draws to a close, we could do with some fresh openings. These lines are from the end of Dante’s Inferno, as he takes a step away from the torments of Hell towards Purgatory.  In other words, he isn’t yet out of the...
Expanding confidence
I liked the implication that Dante’s confidence expands by the agency of another, in this case likened to the sun unfolding a rose. How about that as a metaphor for being a mentor to someone?’My confidence expands just as the sunUnfolds the rose into its...
Not now, but soon
One of the sweetest sounds of spring is a blossom-bursting tree humming with a hundred bees. And after the blossoms fall and the bees move to the next awakening, you just wait for the fruit to grow and fall. Not now, but soon, with that ‘somehow, some...
Love that moves
These closing lines of Dante’s Divine Comedy, reached after a long upward journey from the pits to Paradise, leave you floating. And what internal harmony and congruity – your wishes and your will rotating in sync with the same universe-turning...
New, new, new
Something wonderfully simple in these closing lines of Dante’s Purgatory, which open up a new and dazzling vista. You know he will next embark on his journey up and into Paradise. The cadence is also of someone confidently stepping out into a new phase of life,...
Joyeuse Fête des Muguets
Two things to share today, both lily-related. I first heard of the ‘Fête des muguets’ when I was a teenager and was given a bunch of lilies of the valley. Yesterday in Geneva I was happy to see the shops stocked up with slender, small pots and bunches of...
When we think of joyful things
Remember, if you can, a moment when you have been speaking with someone and you land on something about which they are passionate, and you see their face light up and their eyes sparkle. I can think of several such moments, but one which stands out was a couple of...
Because they dreamed of this place
I like that Dante’s promised land mentions ‘human innocence’ alongside nectar in everything and spring eternal. Innocence doesn’t receive much air time, but to me it could be listed among ‘human rights’. When I was growing up it was...
An easy load
You’ve put in the effort and now is the payback, and by the bucket load. Dante’s payback for schlepping through the underworld towards the higher realms was the easy task of returning to where the world is bright. Let me know if you have a place that...
This land …
Our relationship to landscapes fascinates me. Partly it’s our reaction to a physical landscape, as when we are bowled over by a view of the sea, rolling hills, desert, meadow or mountains. But it’s also the idea of a place and its cultural or personal...
Unload your heart of grief
What a kind, loving, compassionate injunction to Dante. Keep it in mind if you find yourself berating yourself. And if you are experiencing grief, I hope you find the means to unload it soon.  “Much greater faults than yours are washed awayBy much less...
A sheer cascade of light
A luminous encounter when Dante finally makes it to heaven. I once saw a human being with such radiance, a child of about 18 months standing on the edge of a swimming pool, naked and joyous, throwing himself from the edge of the pool into his parent’s arms and...
Time equals hope
This short statement caught my attention as I haven’t before seen such a tight correlation between time and hope, though I think about both a great deal. Â But it makes sense, if having time allows fortunate things to come into play: relief, coincidence,...
On walking and talking
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...
Even as I sing
Clive James’ translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy is far the most entrancing I have read, an entrance-lation. A few quotations will appear here and elsewhere and, in due course, a quote-studded review. Here James highlights Dante’s exuberance even in...Yes, sign me up!
