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As the wise kings fled Herod's bloody realm-- warned by God, through a dream, "hasten away"-- something outside blind sense and reasoning led to the true road to their native lands; so it is right for us to flee this wild hostile world, and to use much keener prods to discover an eternal country within us, to follow unusual, solitary, and far lovelier paths. Proud passions, unhallowed rebellion made us fall from Eden into this valley; long exile must atone for swift error. Yet God's grace can raise man to that first place. how to get there? this narrow humble path. |
An image of the Italian text from Visconti's 1840 edition |
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Notes: From V LX:220. See also B S1:81:125; MS V2; Valgrisi 82. One of two sonnets on the Magi or three wise men or kings. Reference: Matt 2:12. Cf. T. S. Eliot, 'Journey of the Magi-- 1927', in Collected Poems, 1909-1962 Key |
