Excerpt: Dante's, The Divine Comedy

The time was earliest morning. I discerned
The sun mount with those stars that ever climb
Beside him, since God's Love had yearned
And moved those lovely things; so that the prime
Of day, and the sweetness of the season's air,
Inspired good hopes in me at the same time
Towards this beast of the bright fur; but there
Were none to quell my fear of the next sight:
A lion that appeared with ravenous stare,
And head erect, before me, in its might
So that the air itself began to quake,
It seemed, with fear, and trembled into the light.
And, with it, came a she-wolf that seemed to ache
With craving in her leaness; she has compelled
Many to live in sorrow for her sake.
The terror of that visage I beheld
Brought so much heaviness I felt hope drain
Of ever rising till that brute were quelled.
And, as a person to keen to make some gain,
When comes a time he see what loss he'll meet,
His thoughts all turn to sadness, tears and pain,
Like that, the restless beast mad eme, and beat
Me backward step by step, till its defiance
Down where the sun is silent, forced my retreat.