The Forest Glade

 

As one dark morn I trod a forest glade,
     A sunbeam entered at the further end,
And ran to meet me through 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,
Received 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.

 

"The Forest Glade"
Charles Tennyson Turner