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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHEN FREEDOM FAILS, by NINA WILLIS WALTER
First Line: The wild wind raging in the pepper trees
Last Line: And dies a thousand deaths when freedom fails.
Subject(s): Freedom; Sonnet (as Literary Form); Liberty
First Line: The wild wind raging in the pepper trees
Last Line: And dies a thousand deaths when freedom fails.
Subject(s): Freedom; Sonnet (as Literary Form); Liberty
The wild wind raging in the pepper trees
Is like a prisoned eagle beating strong
Black wings against the bars; its cry is long
And doleful, and as sad as one who sees
His captive doom too clearly, hates the ease
Of conquest by a trick, protests the wrong
Of checking freedom by the bar or thong
And taming brave-winged wind to careful breeze.
So must the soul in every age protest,
Whose straining spirit, tightly curbed by those
Who want to see it crawl their little trails,
Resents the bit, and strains to start the quest
For life's real purpose, chafes a calm repose,
And dies a thousand deaths when freedom fails.
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CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
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PATTERNS by NINA WILLIS WALTER