Inferno - Dante

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There sighs and moans and utter wailing swept
resounding through the dark and starless air.
I heard them for the first time, and I wept.
Shuddering din of strange and various tongues,
sorrowful words and accents pitched with rage
shrill and harsh voices, blows of hands with these
Raised up a tumult ever swirling round
in that dark air untinted by a dawn,
as sand-grains whipping when the whirlwind blows.
Said I—a blind of horror held my brain—
“My Teacher, what are all these cries I hear?
Who are these people conquered by their pain?”

-Dante Alighiere, Inferno (Canto 3, ll. 22-33)
Trans. Anthony Esolen