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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HUMAN PREDICAMENT, by IRENE SUTTON First Line: There was a man - or so the tale has grown Last Line: Release, cursing his captors as before. | |||
There was a man -- or so the tale has grown -- A blinded caitiff in a dungeon bound Who beat his head against the dripping stone And cursed his captors till the air around Gathered up the cry and it was flung Rising, reverberant, rasping -- "Light! light! light!" From wall to echoing wall till (they have sung) The mad vibration shook the birds in flight And set the walls a-trembling, and they fell. And they whose tale it is go on to tell How you may see him, stark against the sky, Ringed round with mouldering stones sand-scattered by The years, arms raised to heaven to implore Release, cursing his captors as before. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SERENADE AT SUNSET by IRENE SUTTON TO GERTRUDE STEIN PITEOUSLY by IRENE SUTTON THE ROCK OF CASHEL by AUBREY DE VERE THE SOULS OF THE SLAIN by THOMAS HARDY THE BELLS OF YOUTH by WILLIAM SHARP ON BUTLER'S MONUMENT [IN WESTMINSTER] by SAMUEL WESLEY |
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