The Tenth Circle- The Mannerless

 

Into the murky river Virgil and I dive

Grime and filth littered across the water.

Onto the unknown tenth circle we arrive.

 

Sinners lay scattered, soulless and sadistic,

Screams pierce the humid air and the pungent

Scent of sadness haunt the pessimistic.

 

An evil gigantic Minotaur looms over the sinners.

If only they uttered a mere please or a thank you

They would have spared themselves from this putrid river.

 

I ask my guide what these people could have done

To meet this fate. He replies, “They were lost of manners,

And left the world worse for all and everyone.

 

The mannerless swim eternally in the awful waters, 

Constantly looking to escape. The disgust they caused in life 

And complaining leads to the air getting hotter and hotter.”

 

With the temperature rising and their conscience spinning,

The mannerless are lifted one by one by the Minotaur 

Who throws them higher and higher, grinning.

 

I felt satisfaction that the mannerless received 

What they deserved and I inquired upon one,

“Why couldn't you be polite and be relieved

 

Of this awful river and the torture it endures?”

He replies, “I was wrong to not say please, 

I should have just said thank you. Now mature, 

 

I know now that simple words can make a great

Difference.” Virgil leads me away from the atrocities and 

Now I understand what leads to this awful fate.

 

The mannerless are met with the parallel disgust

They inflicted on others when being lost of a ‘please’.

Virgil’s trek in Hell has taught me to be more polite, I must.