What shall one do with the verse, if he knows not That?

Do not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.

Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.

Before me things created were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

Oh foolish desires of mortals! How weak are the reasons that lead us to not take off our flight from the ground.

Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving, seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly, that, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me.

Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. How hard it is to tell what it was like, this wood of wilderness, savage and stubborn (the thought of it brings back all my old fears), a bitter place! Death could scarce be bitterer. But if I would show the good that came of it I must talk about things other than the good.