In my reading before conducting family home evening, I started Canto I of The Purgatorio. In the simplest form, it would be book 2 of 3 comprising The Divine Comedy by Dante. I thought to myself that this would be one of those books that I would read now, but not fully appreciate it until my later years after reading it again. I felt consumed by the torture and torment that Dante witnessed in his “Hell”. I found myself in a vivid picture with him at my side traveling to the depths together. I at times feared the future events which he would come face to face with Satan at the end of The Inferno. (Book 1 of 3) Now that we (because I still see myself on this journey along his side) are at the base of his purgatory, he so eloquently relays the beautiful portayal of the “bright side of things” in comparison to that which he witnessed in his Hell.
The heavens seemed to revel in their light.
O widowed Northern Hemisphere, bereft
forever of the glory of that sight!