The Summer comes, the Summer dies, Red leaves whirl idly from the tree, But no more cleaving of the skies, No southward sunshine waits for me! You shut me in a gilded cage, You deck the bars with tropic flowers, Nor know that freedom's living rage Defies you through the listless hours. What passion fierce, what service true, Could ever such a wrong requite? What gift, or clasp, or kiss from you Were worth an hour of soaring flight? I beat my wings against the wire, I pant my trammelled heart away; The fever of one mad desire Burns and consumes me all the day. What care I for your tedious love, For tender word or fond caress? I die for one free flight above, One rapture of the wilderness! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO SEE THE STARS IN DAYLIGHT by JAMES GALVIN GETHSEMANE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A CARELESS HEART by ISAAC ROSENBERG HILL-SIDE TREE by MAXWELL BODENHEIM SENCE YOU WENT AWAY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LYRICS TO IANTHE (2). LAMENT by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR |