Last month I visited Gradara, the castle where the story of Paolo and Francesca took place, and this put me in the mind of Dante. Here are a few of my favorite verses from Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 54-60:
Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta
piu caramente; e questo e quello strale
che l’arco de lo essilio pria saetta.
Tu proverai si come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come e duro calle
lo scendere e’l salir per l’altrui scale.
My own translation reads:
You will leave everything you hold
dearest; this is what the bow
of exile will shoot first.
You will taste the salt of another’s bread
and learn the difficulty of your path as
you descend and mount another’s stairs.
Carmen Bugan 