Wednesday 30 January 2008

Hope



Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd
In one self place; but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.

Through Me Pass into the Painful City,
Through Me Pass into Eternal Grief
Through Me Pass among the Lost People.

Justice Moved My Master-Builder:
Heavenly Power First Fashioned Me
With Highest Wisdom and with Primal Love.

Before Me Nothing Was Created That
Was Not Eternal, and I Last Eternally.
All Hope Abandon, You Who Enter Here.

Hope springs ever eternal.

But then again, that's an expression of hope...

Circular reasoning?

Maybe. But for once, it doesn't matter. Abandon hope and you WILL enter your own personal Hell, for that is what Hell is, by definition.

Hope truly is our only defence against the triumph of evil.

Guard your hopes and dreams well.
You cannot afford to lose them.
They guard your soul.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had to google this, Philistine that I am.

Anonymous said...

Live by your hopes and not your fears.

I saw a war film where a war hardened soldier said to another "You live in fear because you still have hope."

Anonymous said...

jmb- It was the best translation I could find- though I'm sure you noticed, the first verse is from Marlowe's Faust.
The Divine Comedy is one of those works that never ceases to inspire me.

E-K- I guess that's true, in a sense.

Despair is the absence of hope, and despair lies beyond fear.