N 



The Author Addresses His Friend 



To Melville Best Anderson, on the Completion of 

 His and Dante's "Divina Commedia" 



l'inferno 



Two poets only write in Terza Rima, 



And on their trail I follow hard today. 



Hard, I repeat, for 'tis a crafty scheme — a 

 Plan to promote an everflowing lay, 



For there's no way to stop when all is said; 



The wildering triplets writhe on ceaselessly. 



But wait, I have a most congenial Thema, — 

 My welcome task a fragrant wreath to lay, 

 And I must hasten lest its perfume shed. 



A scene historic clings in memory; 

 By Arno's bank, six centuries agone, 

 A poet stood in noble dignity, 



A crown of Laurel o'er his graying hair 

 And at his feet the Mighty of the Day! 

 With sainted Beatrice bending down, 



Embrasured in celestial balcon}"^! 



My role though humble is yet most sincere, — 

 In loving friendship, trust me, it is done; 

 Though Pennyroyal mine, instead of Baj^, 

 I venture where mere angels fear to tread, 

 And on your brow I wreathe it, Anderson! 



The 



fort's 



cunning 



art 



Dante 



in 



Florence 



Anderson 



at 



Palo Alto 



IL PURGATORIO 



I mind me of a broadly ample plain — 

 Its undulations stretching far and wide — 

 Verdant beneath revivifying rain, 



Yet undistinguished all; from side to side, 

 Amidst fatiguing uniformity, 

 Mole-hill and ant-hill petty men have tried 



To build as if in futile rivalr}'. 



The 



monotonous 

 delta 



c ^,v> n 



