Midway upon the journey of our life,
I found myself within a shadowed wood,
for the straight and rightful path had been lost.

Ah, how hard it is to speak of what it was—
this wild, harsh, and stubborn forest,
which even in memory renews my fear!

It is so bitter, almost more than death;
yet, to tell of the good I found within it,
I will recount the other things I saw there.