What should be said of him cannot be said; <br />By too great splendor is his name attended; <br />To blame is easier those who him offended, <br />Than reach the faintest glory round him shed. <br />This man descended to the doomed and dead <br />For our instruction; then to God ascended; <br />Heaven opened wide to him its portals splendid, <br />Who from his country's, closed against him, fled. <br />Ungrateful land! To its own prejudice <br />Nurse of his fortunes; and this showeth well, <br />That the most perfect most of grief shall see. <br />Among a thousand proofs let one suffice, <br />That as his exile hath no parallel, <br />Ne'er walked the earth a greater man than he.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dante-sonnet-vii/
