Before I was half-way up the steep road

Before I was half-way up the steep road
of our human journey I saw and feared
how it would end: but the sweet memory
of how it began seduces and I

welcome the taste of that bitter insight.
If I bend or fall under the weight, I
regret nothing: my strength are passion are as strong;
rather, I feel it fitting to walk in

his splendor. With him I lived in peace: he
taught me where life's hidden traps lie;
faint remnants of his acuteness are here

lighting, pointing out a path through the rocks.
Here I start and there I will end safely
He will make me worthy, happy, all will come clear.

An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition
Notes:
From V LXXVI:76. See also B A1:63:34; R LXXXI:227. Key

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