O desolate waste of body and of mind, O myriad-celled distiller of hate; Whose task it is to fuse the bonds that bind This thwarted throng in shuffling felon's gait: Lift up your clanging cry of steel on steel! And stamp upon the consciousness of men, (Since Right is pawned, and Reason men congeal), One ringing truth, that wells from penal fen: Proclaim to all that WE, the erring throng, Who pace these halls of hell in senseless round, Deny their reformation's futile song! For none reform where men with bars are bound! For where your lies are said by men to reign, There dwell these three: deceit, distrust, disdain! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEPANTO by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON NATHAN HALE [SEPTEMBER 22, 1776] by FRANCIS MILES FINCH THE BELLS OF SHANDON by FRANCIS SYLVESTER MAHONY AFTER THE NIGHT by NOUREDDIN ADDIS ON THE LATE S.T. COLERIDGE by WASHINGTON ALLSTON FORMALITY AND THE SOUL: 1. JOHN SINGER SARGENT by KARL W. BIGELOW |