One
The Emperor of the sorrowful realm was there,
Out of the girding ice he stood breast-high,
And to his arm alone the giants were
Less comparable than to a giant I;
Judge then how huge the stature of the whole
That to so huge a part bears symmetry.
If he was once as fair as now he’s foul,
And dared outface his Maker in rebellion,
Well may he be the fount of all our dole.
And marvel ‘twas, out-marvelling a million,
When I beheld three faces in his head;
The one in front was scarlet like vermilion;
And two, mid-centered on the shoulders, made
Union with this, and each with either fellow
Knit at the chest, in triune junction wed.
The right was of a hue ‘twixt white and yellow;
The left was colored like the men who dwell
Where Nile runs down from source to sandy shallow.
From under each sprang two great wings that well
Befitted such a monstrous bird at that;
I ne’er saw ship with such a spread of sail.
Plumeless and like the pinions of a bat
Their fashion was; and down his triple chin
Runnels of tears and bloody slaver dripped.
Each mouth devoured a sinner clenched within,
Frayed by the fangs like flax beneath a brake;
Three at a time he tortured them for sin.
Dante, Canto XXXIV, 28-57