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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HILLS WERE MADE FOR FREEDOM by WILLIAM GOLDSMITH BROWN THE HOUSE OF LIFE: JENNY by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI TO HASEKAWA by WALTER CONRAD ARENSBERG A PASTORAL by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN TO HIS DEAR FRIEND MR. JOHN EMELY by WILLIAM BOSWORTH ONCE ON A TIME by BERTON BRALEY THE CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE by BERTON BRALEY |