Sloth

*All stanzas follow terza rima

I awoke from my, what felt like eternal slumber
Hounded by yet more suffering souls
The torment never seems to encumber

The circle between third and fourth whom Argus is in control
Always watching with his hundred eyes
Over troubled spirits, all in one desert knoll

His skin was grey, his height oversize
His hundred eyes, all black as night
But all are watching, just like spies

With these poor souls, their indolence was trite
Lovers of sleep and neglect
Now they must not be lazy in the slight

Alexandra Desjardins, Period 1

They're forced to work until they're wrecked
Forced to work while the hot sun melts
Their flesh, to stop would be a great disrespect

To Argus, their overseer who whips them with belts
None dare stop to take a breath
For fear of the welts

Of the poor sods sentenced to this cruel eternal death
One unlucky slave fell to the ground
His whole body shook, that poor slave named Heth

He said: "Please help me good sirs!" as Virgil and I surround
We lifted him up, holding steady as he stood
He told us his story, his words seemingly confound:

"In my home, I'd stay for good
I moved not an inch from my bed
Why I stayed in that house, no one including me understood.

Eventually, I began seeing a talking head
I was going crazy! The sloth had made me
Until the town thought I was too crazy and made me drop dead.

And now I'm stuck here, never to be set free
My bones are weak and brittle,
My eyes so full of debris."

Suddenly, the giant slaver whips Heth, always looking for a way to belittle
Forced to work for all eternity
Poor Heth slowly whittling away, little by little

Dante and Virgil have made it to layer 3.5 Hell, the circle between gluttony and greed. This sin is placed there because like greed but unlike gluttony, sloth not only effects the sinner, but also the people around the sinner such as their family and friends. Indolent souls work for all eternity, making up for the labor they could have done while they were alive. The giant, hundred eyed monster, Argus is the slave master, watching over all of his slaves and making sure they are always working. The slaves work in the scorching hot sun that burns the flesh right off their bone, but they can't let that stop them, or they'll be beaten by one of Argus' giant belts. The workers also work on one hill rather than being in their own seperate areas. This makes it so that one soul's laziness effects the rest group as well.

Alexandra Desjardins, Period 1