Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PURPLE BERRIES, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PURPLE BERRIES, by                    
First Line: My bird flew yester morn from its cage
Last Line: That priests would have me fear.
Subject(s): Birds; Freedom; Purple (color); Liberty


MY bird flew yester morn from its cage;
The door was not made fast.
Over the fields of rice; over the hedges of tea;
Carolling joy at its freedom,
Freedom it never had known,
Into the woods it flew,
Seeking a mate it had glimpsed,
A mate which had answered its song.
To-day it is back in its cage,
Feathers ruffled and torn; eyes glazing;
Drooping its little body, swollen, distorted.
Its beak is stained with the juice of berries,
Purple berries that are death to birds.
Wild birds—wise in the lore of Nature—know, and avoid.
Mine, cage-hatched, hand-fed, knew not, and is dying.
Yet that one day of cageless freedom,
That one wild carol of joy—
Never before had it sung so—
That one glad mating with the love of its choice—
Not the mate men had chosen, thrust into its cage—
Was it not worth the pain that followed? And death?
I know, for I, too, have eaten of purple berries;
I, too, have come back to my cage to die.
But the one day of freedom—
The one intoxication of love and of life—
Was worth all that followed,
And that will follow till I die.
And perhaps afterwards.

For if among the shades there be purple berries,
Those, too, will I eat, for I fear the Gods
No more than I fear men,—or devils—
And devils I have known, disguised as men,
And been rent by. But the taste of unknown fruit—
Fruit of my own choosing—I will know.
So now that my bird is dead and no longer needs my care,
I go to eat of purple berries in the land
That priests would have me fear.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net