Which in a palace had grown cold, Had his free breathing been denied The range of the steep mountain's side; But why delay the truth? he died.
I saw, and could not hold his head,
Nor reach his dying hand — nor dead Though hard I strove, but strove in vain, To rend and gnash my bonds in twain. He died and they unlock'd his chain, And scoop'd for him a shallow grave Even from the cold earth of our cave. I begg'd them, as a boon, to lay His corse in dust whereon the day Might shine - it was a foolish thought, But then within my brain it wrought, That even in death his freeborn breast In such a dungeon could not rest.
But he, the favourite and the flower, Most cherish'd since his natal hour,
His mother's image in fair face, The infant love of all his race, His martyr'd father's dearest thought, My latest care, for whom I sought To hoard my life, that his might be Less wretched now, and one day free; He, too, who yet had held untired A spirit natural or inspired
He, too, was struck, and day by day Was wither'd as the stalk away. Oh, God! it is a fearful thing To see the human soul take wing In any shape, in any mood:
A groan o'er his untimely lot, A little talk of better days, A little hope my own to raise, For I was sunk in silence - lost In this last loss, of all the most;
And then the sighs he would suppress
Of fainting nature's feebleness,
More slowly drawn, grew less and less, I listen'd, but I could not hear
I call'd, for I was wild with fear;
I knew 'twas hopeless, but my dread Would not be thus admonished;
I call'd and thought I heard a sound – I burst my chain with one strong bound, And rush'd to him: – I found him not,
What next befell me then and there
I know not well I never knew- First came the loss of light, and air, And then of darkness too :
I had no thought, no feeling none Among the stones I stood a stone, And was, scarce conscious what I wist, As shrubless crags within the mist; For all was blank, and bleak, and gray; It was not night — it was not day; It was not even the dungeon-light, So hateful to my heavy sight, But vacancy absorbing space, And fixedness without a place : There were no stars -
No check no change no good
And mine was thankful till my eyes Ran over with the glad surprise, And they that moment could not see I was the mate of misery;
But then by dull degrees came back My senses to their wonted track; I saw the dungeon walls and floor Close slowly round me as before, I saw the glimmer of the sun Creeping as it before had done,
But through the crevice where it came
That bird was perch'd, as fond and tame, And tamer than upon the tree;
A lovely bird with azure wings,
And song that said a thousand things,
And seem'd to say them all for me!
I never saw its like before,
Which made me both to weep and smile;
I sometimes deem'd that it might be My brother's soul come down to me; But then at last away it flew, And then 'twas mortal well I knew, For he would never thus have flown, And left me twice so doubly lone, Lone as the corse within its shroud, Lone as a solitary cloud,
A single cloud on a sunny day, While all the rest of heaven is clear, A frown upon the atmosphere, That hath no business to appear
When skies are blue, and earth is gay.
A kind of change came in my fate, My keepers grew compassionate; I know not what had made them so, They were inured to sights of woe, But so it was: - my broken chain With links unfasten'd did remain, And it was liberty to stride Along my cell from side to side, And up and down, and then athwart, And tread it over every part; And round the pillars one by one, Returning where my walk begun, Avoiding only, as I trod, My brothers' graves without a sod; For if I thought with heedless tread, My step profaned their lowly bed,
My breath came gaspingly and thick,
And my crush'd heart fell blind and sick.
To my barr'd windows, and to bend
Once more upon the mountains high, The quiet of a loving eye.
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