Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IMPRISONED, by MARY FARRIES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IMPRISONED, by                    
First Line: A nation's mandate reads, 'he must atone
Last Line: Henceforth he has a number ... Not a name.
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


A nation's mandate reads, "He must atone
For youthful folly;" wardens have concealed
The boy within a place of weathered stone ...
A cage with iron doors that will not yield,
Around the penitentiary are walls ...
High walls that none may penetrate or scale;
The men, his fellows who traverse the halls
Are hopeless, hollow-eyed and strangely pale,
Inprisoned here ... he will forget to smile
And pacing back and forth within his cell
His heart will agonize from while to while
For visions of sunlit lake or shady dell.
A moment's madness brought this life of shame ...
Henceforth he has a number ... not a name.





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