Purgatorio: Canto 14 Dante Alighieri (Ft. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Purgatorio: Canto XIV

"Who is this one that goes about our mountain,
   Or ever Death has given him power of flight,
   And opes his eyes and shuts them at his will?"

"I know not who, but know he's not alone;
   Ask him thyself, for thou art nearer to him,
   And gently, so that he may speak, accost him."

Thus did two spirits, leaning tow'rds each other,
   Discourse about me there on the right hand;
   Then held supine their faces to address me.

And said the one: "O soul, that, fastened still
   Within the body, tow'rds the heaven art going,
   For charity console us, and declare

Whence comest and who art thou; for thou mak'st us
   As much to marvel at this grace of thine
   As must a thing that never yet has been."

And I: "Through midst of Tuscany there wanders
   A streamlet that is born in Falterona,
   And not a hundred miles of course suffice it;