68. ‘L’aspetto sacro de la terra vostra’

The sacred aspect of your native place,

makes me sorrow for the evil that is past,

crying: ‘Arise, you wretch, what is it you do?’:

and shows me the way to climb to Heaven.

But with this thought another one contends

and says to me: ‘Why do you run away?

If you recall, the time now is passing

in which you might turn and see our lady.’

I understand what it says, and I turn

to ice inside, like a man who hears

news which suddenly overwhelms him.

The first thought returns, the other flies:

which will win, who knows: but they’ve fought

till now, and more than one single time.