The Dark Wood
Midway upon the journey of our life, you wake to find yourself astray in a gloomy wood, gone from the direct path. It is no easy task to tell how savage, wild, and robust this forest is; the mere thought of it renews your fear. You cannot say how you entered it, so full of sleep were you when you abandoned the true way.
You stumble toward a sunlit hill, hoping for escape, but your path is blocked! A leopard with spotted skin, a lion with head held high in hunger, and a she-wolf lean with craving block your ascent. They drive you back, step by step, into the darkness where the sun is silent.
Suddenly, a form appears in the desert air—faint, as if hoarse from long silence. "Have mercy on me!" you cry. "Spirit or living man, whatever thou be!" It is the shade of a man, noble and sad.