Canto #3: The Gates of Hell

“I am the gateway
To the city of the damned
And pain without end

I am the gateway
To the forgotten people
Whose cries go unheard

Justice, the builder
Omnipotence, the foreman
With Wisdom and Love

Among the First Things
I stand, Abandon all hope
You who enter me.”

That cruel warning
Ate my courage, I felt sick:
“Virgil I can’t go.”

“Don’t let fear rule you”
The brave, voice of calm reason
Urging me to trust.

Hand in trusting hand
Virgil guided me into
The mouth of the pit.

We walked into the
Dark terror and flies and saw
The mob Hell refused.

The Lukewarm holler
And demand entry to Hell
Their cries unanswered.

These Souls did nothing:
They lived in neutrality
In death they’re ignored

Here, on the threshold
Mixed with Angel bystanders
Look, and pass them by.

An empty standard
Flies above long rows of souls
The Moral Cowards

Plagued and stung by wasps
Their blood and tears mix with mud
And puss and maggots.

And now a line forms
Of fools who want to see Hell
This confuses me

My guide explains that
All those who hate God wait here
To cross Acheron

A stagnant river
The Boatman shouts, I can’t pass
Earth Quake and I faint.