IN prison, to and fro you pace, Iron bars bind the world of space. Your loud reverberating roar Spreads upon the atmosphere Like water, pushed before A bulky keel. Muscles of your massive jaws, Sinews of your powerful paws, Are firm as steel; But children laugh at you, and jeer, With no pity, with no fear. In dull solitude you pace To and fro your narrow space, Year on year. Of the jungle do you keep Your kingdom, in your sleep? Roaming, with your cubs and mate Its great Peering silence, mile on mile; Knowing no trap of human guile; When you come, the weak and small Hurried find their hiding place— Where no iron bars bind space. You pace and gaze, with growling rage— On holidays, As gaping crowds drift past your cage: Nurse-maids and children, talking shrilly; Troops of mischief-brimming boys; Whispering school-girls, giggling silly; White collared laborer, rugged and tanned, Holding secure a child's small hand. ... In your wild, resentful hate, Would you feel avenged If you could know— As, captive, to and fro you go— Each so heedless of your woe, Is fettered too, in prison walls, Soon or late, Puppet of a grinning fate? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHILD'S PRAYER [OR, HYMN] by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS OZYMANDIAS REVISITED by MORRIS GILBERT BISHOP THE IMMORTALS by ISAAC ROSENBERG REFUGE by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. ROBIN REDBREAST by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM ON THE DEATH OF MRS. MARTINEAU by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |