Sin of Hindering Life due to a Guilty Conscience

*Rhyme is throughout poem*


Drudging solemnly forward through wrath and despair
my guide directed my eyes towards a herd
of men and women sinking quickly into the ground.

At once I heard screams, although slurred,
as the ground swallowed them up, as if they'd drowned
'Do not be alarmed, although these sinners are seldom heard.

These souls are drowning by stones to which they are bound
of guilt from an incident which they have failed to accept.
And from that precise moment, have constantly carried around.

In their hearts this sorrow has been secretly kept
And this weight has held them in the past.
Oblivious to the present, it's almost as if they'd slept.

If you look closely, though you must look fast,
You can see how their body turns to stone
until the weight sinks them at last.

Although not heinous, it's a sin He does not condone.
For to pause your life and stop living
is against what he has taught and we have known.'

I could see now that there are two sides in forgiving
and you must be at peace in your heart.
One's life is squandered is you just keep reliving.

'But sullen is how they've chosen to depart,
and now this is their eternal fate.
I'm sure looking back, they see that was not smart.'

How can he be saying this with his face straight?
Questions in silence I dare not speak.
'It is time to venture forward, we must not wait.'

As I left, I took one last peak
to the souls bound to a foregone mistake,
When suddenly I felt very weak.

I gripped Virgil's shoulder as we crossed another lake
'Do not crumble now, Dante,
For the fate of your soul is at stake.'

This canto would appear in level 5, or the level for wrath and sullenness. The reason for this (the sin) is because this canto depicts the fate of the souls of those who have succumbed to sullenness due to guilt that has held them in the past. They were never able to truly to live after falling into this guilt, and stopped living altogether- they just existed. The punishment for these sinners is that they turn to stone as they walk through hell, and sink into the ground. This fits the crime of guilt consuming their life because just as the guilt held them in place in their life and stopped their life, in a sense, turning to stone stops them and then sinks them into the ground where they are stuck forever.