Ah! what a hard thing it is to describe
this savage wood, so tangled and harsh,
the thought of it renews my fear!

So bitter it is, death could scarce be bitterer.
But of the good to speak which I found there
I will tell of other things I saw.

How I entered I cannot recall
I was full of slumber at the time
at which I had abandoned the true way;

but when I arrived at the hill's foot,
at that part where the valley ends,
fear had already pierced my heart.

Upwards I looked, and saw the hilltop
already clad in morning rays of light
that guide men straight ahead on every path.