Forest Trail

As one dark morn I trod a forest glade,

A sunbeam enter’d at the further end,

And ran to meet me thro’ the yielding shade

As one, who in the distance sees a friend,

And, smiling, hurries to him; but mine eyes,

Bewilder’d by the change from dark to bright,

Receiv’d the greeting with a quick surprise

At first, and then with tears of pure delight;

For sad my thoughts had been—the tempest’s wrath

Had gloom’d the night, and made the morrow gray;

That heavenly guidance humble sorrow hath,

Had turn’d my feet into that forest-way,

Just when His morning light came down the path,

Among the lonely woods at early day.

Charles Tennyson Turner---The Forest Glade