The woods were dark and the night was black,
And only an owl could see the track;
Yet the cheery driver made his way
Through the great pine woods as if it were day.
I asked him, "How do you manage to see?
The road and the forest are one to me."
"To me as well," he replied, "and I
Can only drive by the path in the sky."
I looked above, where the treetops tall
Rose from the road like an ebon wall,
And lo! a beautiful starry lane
Wound as the road wound and made it plain.
And since, when the path of my life is drear
And all is blackness and doubt and fear,
When the horrors of midnight are here below
And I see not a step of the way to go,
Then, ah! then I can look on high,
And walk on earth by the path in the sky.