Midway upon the journey of our life
    I found myself within a forest dark,
    For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
    Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
    What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
    Which in the very thought renews the fear.
    So bitter is it, death is little more;
    But of the good to treat, which there I found,
    Speak will I of the other things I saw there.