One thrilling sweep from out the fastnesses Of mountain crags—into the vaulted blue, To try his youthful wings. Below him churned the angry, dauntless sea, Above, rolled wind-spun clouds—a grand review Of hushed immensity.— @2And then imprisonment! ...@1 He thrashed defeated wings against the bars That kept him from the taunting mountain peaks— The far-flung sky and stars. Through bitter days of cruel punishment He strove to bend or break his prison-walls, Enraged—but impotent. He caught dim shadows of the friendly trees; He heard the birds fling happy mating calls Like glad antiphonies. .... Mad grief and pain and galling memory Bore natural fruit ... and gradually free life Was but a hazy dream. He ceased to struggle ... walked his dingy cell— Grim bars looked commonplace as harsh salt spray. At length, through rust of years These bars corroded, and all barriers fell, And he was free, once more to choose his way. ... He shyly walked about, He stared into the longed-for, beckoning blue— At sunlit slopes for which his heart had yearned; It seemed an untold age Since mountain peak had called. ... or sky-flung view Of clouds and sea ... With quivering wings he turned And walked back to his cage. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BUGLER'S FIRST COMMUNION by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ABOU BEN ADHEM by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT EUCALYPTUS TREES by SISTER BENEDICTION THE FESTUBERT SHRINE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE ELDER WOMAN'S SONG: 2, FR. KING LEAR'S WIFE by GORDON BOTTOMLEY IN MY LADY'S PRAISE by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE BEST ROOM by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH AN ELEGY OF HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |