Page:The children of the night.djvu/62



searching feet, through dark circuitous ways, I plunged and stumbled; round me, far and near, Quaint hordes of eyeless phantoms did appear, Twisting and turning in a bootless chase,— When, like an exile given by God’s grace To feel once more a human atmosphere, I caught the world's first murmur, large and clear, Flung from a singing river's endless race.

Then, through a magic twilight from below, I heard its grand sad song as in a dream: Life's wild infinity of mirth and woe It sang me; and, with many a changing gleam, Across the music of its onward flow I saw the cottage lights of Wessex beam.