Painting by Peter Paul Rubens, 1620
The Final Five
Faint longing for the soul that wanders,
The desire to own, consume, carousal in thunders
Make me whole, for I lay forgotten…
Foes and silent foreboding in the gales tonight
The soul quietly ascends the feared contrapasso,
Quinque, I see the dark and I become it slowly
Perishes, thy lust for light?
Lucid, quick! A knock on the door…
Carry me, quattuor, relinquish t'me eternity!
Greet, tribus, a feeble sigh,
Paling, the ashes of the once magnificent
Duo – breathe now, a feeble kiss
Reticent, thy inferno, close the gates and revel
Immaculatos, Unum– the mortal I.