Purgatorio: Canto 5 Dante Alighieri (Ft. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Purgatorio: Canto V

I had already from those shades departed,
   And followed in the footsteps of my Guide,
   When from behind, pointing his finger at me,

One shouted: "See, it seems as if shone not
   The sunshine on the left of him below,
   And like one living seems he to conduct him."

Mine eyes I turned at utterance of these words,
   And saw them watching with astonishment
   But me, but me, and the light which was broken!

"Why doth thy mind so occupy itself,"
   The Master said, "that thou thy pace dost slacken?
   What matters it to thee what here is whispered?

Come after me, and let the people talk;
   Stand like a steadfast tower, that never wags
   Its top for all the blowing of the winds;

For evermore the man in whom is springing
   Thought upon thought, removes from him the mark,
   Because the force of one the other weakens."