Purgatorio: Canto 12 Dante Alighieri (Ft. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Purgatorio: Canto XII

Abreast, like oxen going in a yoke,
   I with that heavy-laden soul went on,
   As long as the sweet pedagogue permitted;

But when he said, "Leave him, and onward pass,
   For here 'tis good that with the sail and oars,
   As much as may be, each push on his barque;"

Upright, as walking wills it, I redressed
   My person, notwithstanding that my thoughts
   Remained within me downcast and abashed.

I had moved on, and followed willingly
   The footsteps of my Master, and we both
   Already showed how light of foot we were,

When unto me he said: "Cast down thine eyes;
   'Twere well for thee, to alleviate the way,
   To look upon the bed beneath thy feet."

As, that some memory may exist of them,
   Above the buried dead their tombs in earth
   Bear sculptured on them what they were before;