It was when

Whirls of thick waters laved me

   Again and again,

That something arose and saved me;

   Yea, it was then.

   In that day

Unseeing the azure went I

   On my way,

And to white winter bent I,

   Knowing no May.

   Reft of renown,

Under the night clouds beating

   Up and down,

In my needfulness greeting

   Cit and clown.

   Long there had been

Much of a murky colour

   In the scene,

Dull prospects meeting duller;

   Nought between.

   Last, there loomed

A closing-in blind alley,

   Though there boomed

A feeble summons to rally

   Where it gloomed.

   The clock rang;

The hour brought a hand to deliver;

   I upsprang,

And looked back at den, ditch and river,

   And sang.