Once I wished I might rehearse Freedom's paean in my verse, That the slave who caught the strain Should throb until he snapped his chain. But the Spirit said, 'Not so; Speak it not, or speak it low; Name not lightly to be said, Gift too precious to be prayed, Passion not to be expressed But by heaving of the breast: Yet, -- wouldst thou the mountain find Where this deity is shrined, Who gives to seas and sunset skies Their unspent beauty of surprise, And, when it lists him, waken can Brute or savage into man; Or, if in thy heart he shine, Blends the starry fates with thine, Draws angels nigh to dwell with thee, And makes thy thoughts archangels be; Freedom's secret wilt thou know? -- Counsel not with flesh and blood; Loiter not for cloak or food; Right thou feelest, rush to do.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A VOYAGE TO CYTHERA by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE QUA CURSUM VENTUS by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH THE STARLIGHT NIGHT by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 7 by OMAR KHAYYAM A LAMENT FOR PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN GREENES FUNERALLS: SONNET 7 by RICHARD BARNFIELD |