Maria's Inferno: Canto VII

As the wood swung behind

us, the wailing sounds grew dim.

Here was silence of a kind

that forces shivers up the limbs.

We were in a narrow tunnel

lit by candles round the slim

edges of its path. All

I could see at first were dirty walls.

"This circle is full

of people who had the gall

to not give to those in need,"

Anne said. "Throughout this hall

you will see them trapped. Heed

my every word, for some

are so consumed with greed

that they will beckon you to come."

She led me along

the path, and I started to hum.

We had not travelled long

before I thought I saw a shadow move

and realized something must be wrong.

What I had taken for a groove

was indeed a human standing tall

pushing as if to prove

himself. But see- he was inside the wall

of muck. I gasped

as his face pushed into the hall

and the figure rasped,

"Help me please!"

And he grasped

my sweaty hand and squeezed

but Anne tore

his hand away. "Do not appease

the damned, I implore."

And the man, with a shriek

sank into the wall once more.

I nodded with weak

knees. And the silence resumed

as we walked on. I dared not peek

sideways as the walls loomed

over us, for fear of being frightened.

By the time we had zoomed

to the end of the hall, my anxiety had heightened.