The Something that Saved Him

              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.