WHEN one word is spoken, When one look you see, When you take the token, Howe'er so slight it be, The cage's bolt is broken, The happy bird is free. There is no unsaying That love-startled word; It were idle praying It no more be heard; Yet, its law obeying, Who shall blame the bird? What avails the mending Where the cage was weak? What avails the sending Far, the bird to seek, When every cloud is lending Wings toward yonder peak? Thrush, could they recapture You to newer wrong, How could you adapt your Strain to suit the throng? Gone would be the rapture Of unimprisoned song. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRANES OF IBYCUS by EMMA LAZARUS THE FLOATING MORMON by KAREN SWENSON ANGLOSAXON STREET by EARL (EARLE) BIRNEY SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 14 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING OUR LADY by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE THE WAYS OF TIME by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE COLLAR-BONE OF A HARE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE LAMENTATION OF THE OLD PENSIONER (1) by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |