Joe Linker: Divine Comedy

Salvador Dali, “Divine Comedy, Inferno 23”. Source: affordableart101.com

 

Inferno

 

I awoke in a room in hell

not hot, not cold

alone, the only one here.

 

The devil Mediocre

stops by to explain

I can’t have visitors.

 

I feel no pain

no sun blistering

no torrential rain.

 

Hell is all things

in moderation.

 

Purgatorio

 

I awoke in Purgatory,

and, for a time, suffered,

more or less, the same story

 

as all the others

with poor taste,

worthlessly waiting

 

for the quitting whistle

which never blows.

 

Paradiso

 

I awoke in Heaven’s deep sleep

and fell

again to sea.