Prologue

Midway, this way of life we're bound upon



I woke to find myself in a dark wood



Where the right road was wholly lost and gone



Aye me, how hard to speak of it



That rude and rough and stubborn forest



The mere breath of memory stirs the old fear in the blood



But when, at last, I stood beneath a steep hillside



Which closed that valley's wandering maze



Whose dread had pierced me to the heart root deep



Then I looked up and saw the morning rays



Mantle its shoulder from that planet bright



Which guides men's feet aright on all their ways