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...AN ANCIENT PROVERB by WILLIAM BLAKE AN INVOCATION; SONG, FR. REMORSE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE TWILIGHT ON THE DESERT by ETHEL FRANCES BARNARD OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY by JOHN BEAUMONT FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: MOURNER'S CONSOLED by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |