Thomas Hardy — 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.