"AND this is freedom!" cried the serf; "At last I tread free soil, the free air blows on me;" And, wild to learn the sweets of liberty, With eager hope his bosom bounded fast. But not for naught had the long years amassed Habit of slavery; among the free He still was servile, and, disheartened, he Crept back to the old bondage of the past. Long did I bear a hard and heavy chain Wreathed with amaranth and asphodel, But through the flower-breaths stole the weary pain. I cast it off and fled, but 't was in vain; For when once more I passed by where it fell, I took it up and bound it on again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 5. THE DANCING GIRL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JUDGE SELAH LIVELY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A POEM FOR MAX NORDAU by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON PROSIT NEUJAHR by GEORGE SANTAYANA |