When I had journeyed half our life's way
I found myself inside a shadowed forest
For I had lost the path that does not stray
Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was
That savage forest, dense and difficult
Which even in recall renews my fear
So bitter - death is hardly more severe
But to recall the good discovered there
I'll also tell the other things I saw
I cannot clearly say how I had entered
Into the wood; I was so full of sleep and just at
The point where I abandoned the true path
But when I'd reached the bottom of a hill
It rose along the boundary of the valley
That had harassed my heart with so much fear
I looked on high and saw its shoulders clothed
Already with the rays of that same planet
Which serves to lead us straight along all roads
At this my fear was somewhat quieted
For through the night of sorrow I had spent
The lake within my heart felt terror present
And just as she who, with exhausted breath
Having escaped from sea to shore, turns back
To watch the dangerous waters she has quit
So did my spirit, still a fugitive
Turn back intently at the pass
That never has let anyone survive