"Chi v'ha guidati, o che vi fu lucerna,
uscendo fuor de la profonda notte
che sempre nera fa la valle inferna?"


"Who was it that guided you? Who was your light
bringing you forth out of the pround night
that keeps the infernal valley black forever?"

--W.S. Merwin


"Who has led you, or who was a light to you
issuing out of that profound night,
that always blackens the infernal valley?"

--http://www.tonykline.free-online.co.uk/DantPurg1to7.htm#_Toc64099517


"Who guided you? or who has been your lamp
In issuing forth out of the night profound,
That ever black makes the infernal valley?"

--http://www.online-literature.com/dante/purgatorio/1/

The Merwin translation keeps reciting in the back of my head. It is as if I, instead of Dante, was facing the solitary old man. The other two translations, on the other hand, didn't do justice. What do you think?

I wish I could understand Italian.