Gemma

Can you imagine being the unloved wife?

He wrote poems about her, lovely sonnets

She was his guide, his muse, his inspiration

But he did not write about you.

Your marriage was one of a long-ago promise

While you were both children, your parents matched you up.

In his exile, when the darkness of night came, did he think of her?

Years in the future, you will be cast aside, forgotten about

They will both be famous

People will talk about his undying love for her

Who was this Beatrice?

Why did Dante love a woman he only met twice?

Your heart may be bitter, Gemma, but rest in peace,

knowing he suffered over his own creation

For he can never have her

Not even in death.

Inspired by Henry Holiday’s Dante and Beatrice