| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1094. To an Imperilled Traveller |
| | | By Nathan Haskell Dole |
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| UNFLINCHING Dante of a later day, | |
| Thou who hast wandered through the realms of pain | |
| And seen with aching breast and whirling brain | |
| Woes which thou wert unable to allay, | |
| What frightful visions hast thou brought away: | 5 |
| Of torments, passions, agonies, struggles vain | |
| To break the prison walls, to rend the chain,— | |
| Of hopeless hearts too desperate to pray! | |
| Men are the devils of that pitiless hell! | |
| Men guard the labyrinth of that ninefold curse! | 10 |
| Marvel of marvels! Thou hast lived to tell, | |
| In prose more sorrowful than Dante’s verse, | |
| Of pangs more grievous, sufferings more fell, | |
| Than Dante or his master dared rehearse! | |
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