Lasciate ogni speranza Voi ch'entrate abandon all hope ye who enter here the inscription at the entrance to the inferno of Dante's Divine Comedy courage! behind that gate there is no hell hell has been dismantled by theologians and deep psychologists converted into allegory for humanitarian and educational reasons courage! behind that gate the same thing begins again two drunken grave-diggers sit at the edge of a hole they're drinking non-alcoholic beer and munching on sausage winking at us under the cross they play soccer with Adam's skull the hole awaits tomorrow's corpse the "stiff" is on its way courage! here we will await the final judgment water gathers in the hole cigarette butts are floating in it courage! behind that gate there will neither be history nor goodness nor poetry and what will there be dear stranger? there will be stones stone upon stone stone upon stone and on that stone one more stone
From Sobbing Superpower by Tadeusz Różewicz. Copyright © 2010 by Tadeusz Różewicz and Joanna Trzeciak. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company.