Thus vexed with doleful whims the crawler went

Adrift before the wind, nor saw the trail;

Till close on night he knew a rugged vale

Had closed about him; and a hush was there,

Though still a moaning in the upper air

Told how the gray-winged gale blew out the day.

Beneath a clump of brush he swooned away

Into an icy void; and waking numb,

It seemed the still white dawn of death had come

On this, some cradle-valley of the soul.