Inferno, V:129 Lyrics
That they are the ones in the book.
(They will be in another, greater,
But what can that matter to them.)
Now they are Paolo, Francesca,
Not two friends who are sharing
The savour of a fable.
They gaze with incredulous wonder.
Their hands do not touch.
They’ve discovered the sole treasure;
They have found one another.
They betray no Malatesta,
Since betrayal requires a third
And they are the only two on earth.
They are Paolo and Francesca
And the queen and her lover too
And all the lovers who’ve been
Since Adam went with Eve
In the Paradise garden.
A book, a dream reveals
That they are forms in a dream once
Dreamt in Brittany.
Another book will ensure that men,
Dreams also, dream of them.
About
A poem in response to the final portion of Canto V of Dante’s Inferno.
The work is perhaps an ironic warning against the myopic seductions of love, as each pair referenced in the poem met with some unhappy ending. This isn’t a necessary reading, as Borges seems to suggest, in typical fashion, that perhaps it is all ultimately immaterial.
Dante’s own canto is often read as a warning against seeing either lust or unrestrained love as righteous love, and to guide people not to confuse the two, especially given the glorification of courtly love in Dante’s era – a love that took place outside the confines of marriage, was often portrayed as pure but still often driven by eros. Borges’s work is perhaps better understood with this context.
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