A desert, a shadeless desert; Oh, wildly the storm doth sweep !
And I bury my unprotected head In the pitiless sand and weep.
The wild winds sweep around me, Moaning, in hopeless song :
“ ’Tis nothing but sandy desert Forever and ever on.
“ No shady land of peace Will gladden your heavy eye.
Oh, give the hopeless journey o’er Rise not—lie here and die.”
But a ridge o’er the sandy desert– A track, o’er the dusty plain,
Sends hope to my fainting heart, And I start on my journey again
For I know that One before me Hath travelled the desert o’er ;
Thank God ! for that print in the sand, Where a foot hath trod before !
