Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GULLIVER WAKES, by ELEANOR PRESTON WATKINS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GULLIVER WAKES, by                    
First Line: Long he has lain asleep
Last Line: Free!
Subject(s): Russia; Soviet Union; Russians


Long he has lain asleep,
Bound by the million threads
Of tyranny
And little kings,
Albeit his sleep was restless,
Troubled by dreams of freedom
And the stings
Of innumerable wrongs.
Sleeping, they thought him helpless.
He lay upon the ground
Inert and bound,
And all their drunken songs
And revels could not wake him.
There was not any power
Could make him
Arise, avenge his wrongs.

But now the giant wakes
From his long nap.
His shoulders heave, his great arms stretch,
His cobweb fetters snap.
A century's thirst he slakes.
The tiny bureaucrats and little kings
Fall neck-and-heels,
(And O! the glory and the wonder of it!
Freedom sings,
And all creation!
And every free heart thrills
In every nation,
On every sea.)
After his sodden sleep of serfdom and oppression
Russia stands upright --
Free!





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