MIDWAY upon the journey of our life 1 I found myself within a forest dark, 2 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. I cannot well repeat how there I entered, So full was I of slumber at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way. But after I had reached a mountain’s foot, 3 At that point where the valley terminated, 4 Which had with consternation pierced my heart, Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders