Dante's Inferno

Do you think I'd give up? 
That this might've shook the love from me 
Or that I was on the brink 
How could you think, darlin', I'd scare so easily?

Now that it's done 
There's not one thing that I would change 
My life was a storm since I was born 
How could I fear any hurricane?

If someone asked me at the end

I'd tell them, "Put me back in it" 
Darlin’', I would do it again
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin', I'd go through it again

I would still be surprised I could find you 
Darlin', in any life 
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin', I would do it again

For all that was said 
Of where we'd end up at the end of it 
When the heart would cease, ours never knew peace 
What good would it be on the far side of things?

It was too soon 
When that part of you was ripped away 
A grip taking hold like a cancer that grows 
Each piece of your body that it takes

Though I know my heart would break

I'd tell them, "Put me back in it" 
Darlin’, I would do it again
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin’, I'd go through it again

I would still be surprised I could find you 
Darlin', in any life 
If I could hold you for a minute 
Darlin’, I would do it again

I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
I would not change it each time 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I 
Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I

—Hozier, “Francesca”, Unreal Unearth

Part of me is still struggling with it, but I can grasp the magnitude of it still. I just wish I was up on my Italian history with all the name-dropping in this poem. But I give it the rating primarily because of the translation. Robert Pinsky did a fantastic job. I remember I bought this book specifically because on the left side of the spread, the original italian text was there, and on the right, it was put into english. I wanted to learn italian at the time, and this was a possible tool.

Now I'd had to read some of this poem before, but the translation didn't feel nearly as accessible. This one's great, and if you want to tackle The Inferno, then this is the version I'd recommend. It's also got tons of endnotes so as to clarify some of the references and names in the telling.

If you've never cracked open a book or tried to understand western literature, then I wouldn't bother reading it--seriously, so much name-and-event dropping that it's crazy. And if you've read the Aeneid, you'll have a leg-up because of the references to Vergil (who is Dante's guide through hell).