O YOU who chafe at every fetter's link, A restless spirit, never free: Who, though victorious aye, in bonds still cowered, Disgusted more and more, and flayed and scoured, Till from each cup of balm you poison drink Alas! and by the Cross all helpless sink, You too, you too, among the overpowered? For long I watched this play so weirdly shaped, Breathing an air of prison, vault, and dread, With churchly fragrance, clouds of incense spread, And yet I found all strange, in terror gaped. But now I throw my fool's cap o'er my head For I escaped! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OVID, OLD BUDDY, I WOULD DISCOURSE WITH YOU A WHILE by HAYDEN CARRUTH AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 1. THE BALLAD-SINGER by THOMAS HARDY AUSPEX by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL A VISION OF CONNAUGHT IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN THE BASE OF ALL METAPHYSICS by WALT WHITMAN |