Dante Another Time

Dante Another Time

and then,

as the afternoon was cleansed

in prayer,

I heard

beneath the earth

the despair of wolves

I saw Dante in chains,

crawling

like a snake,

betrayed

by the demons,

his language turned to dust,

he crawled

without a chance

his eyes without light,

and his voice without music,

at his side

was a blind rat

with a fake promise in its claws

and all around

were the neon liars of time,

and Dante,

lost in a sandstorm,

without a compass

or a rosary,

tried to remember the first light,

tried to look,

look afar,

at the last prophet.