"'I can't get out', said the starling." Sterne's 'Sentimental Journey'. Forever the impenetrable wall Of self confines my poor rebellious soul, I never see the towering white clouds roll Before a sturdy wind, save through the small Barred window of my jail. I live a thrall With all my outer life a clipped, square hole, Rectangular; a fraction of a scroll Unwound and winding like a worsted ball. My thoughts are grown uneager and depressed Through being always mine, my fancy's wings Are moulted and the feathers blown away. I weary for desires never guessed, For alien passions, strange imaginings, To be some other person for a day. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELEN OF TROY by SARA TEASDALE LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT; AN ALLEGORICAL ROMANCE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE SONNET: 31 by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY ELOISA TO ABELARD by ALEXANDER POPE CRUCIFIXION TO THE WORLD BY THE CROSS OF CHRIST by ISAAC WATTS AUTUMN SOLILOQUY by ELSIE DINWIDDIE BARTLETT MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE HALL by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |