[PW] A line quoted by Ted Hughes

[Anna Ravano]

Towards the end of Ted Hughes's poem "Sunstruck", from "Remains of Elmet", there is a line in quotes which may be a quotation from some other poem or other literary text. A Google research however yielded nothing. The line is ‘Like men returned from a far journey’. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

Here's the whole stanza, it's the final one, and the poem is about a cricket match:

The bowler had flogged himself to a dishclout.
And the burned batsmen returned, with changed faces,
‘Like men returned from a far journey,’
Under the long glare walls of evening
To the cool sheet and the black slot of home. 

Thanks in advance,

Anna Ravano