set foot in the unknown track,
paths locked in the minds of beasts
and in strange tongues. Footfall
led him where he did not know.
There was a dark country where
only blind trust could go.
Some joyous animal paced the woods
ahead of him and filled the air
with steepling song to make a way.
Step by step the darkness bore
the light. The shadow opened
like a pod, and from the height
he saw a place green as welcome
on whose still water the sky lay white.