YOU gave me my work to do, you brought and set it before me; I laughed with the laughter of one, seeing, who understands; I bent to the task elate, zeal like a mantle o'er me -- @3Why did you break my wrists and shatter the strength of my hands?@1 You gave me a song to sing, and mine the joy of the bringing Strands of Heaven, and sea and earth strung to the perfect note. Finished, glorious, whole, I raised my head for its singing -- @3Why did you seal my lips and crush the song in my throat?@1 The work I was fain to do -- it rusts in the drift of the sands; The song I was fain to sing is waste for the winds to float. @3Why did you break my wrists and shatter the strength of my hands?@1 @3Why did you seal my lips and crush the song in my throat?@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...O SOUTHLAND! by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 31 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN ON THE SITE OF A MULBERRY-TREE PLANTED BY SHAKESPEARE ... by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONNET: 73 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE LONELY STREET by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS |