Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OF A BIRD-CAGE, by CAROLINE LINDSAY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OF A BIRD-CAGE, by                    
First Line: A tiny prison built by prisoned hands
Last Line: Bend down the latch, and firmly bolt the door!
Alternate Author Name(s): Fitzroy, Caroline
Subject(s): Birdcages; Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


One of those made in Germany by convicts sentenced to penal servitude

A tiny prison built by prisoned hands
To coop some bright-wing'd thing; a mimic cell,
Wrought amid sighs by one who knew full well
The smart and pressure of enforced bands,
When high-soul'd courage failed him to assuage
The close-laid torture of a life-locked cage.

Perchance he wept his own deep grief and pain.
Alas, each day the sun rose high to set
In clouds of golden hope! And yet, and yet,
Time mattered naught. Him freedom called in vain,
As in the future she might beckon it --
That bird now free -- who captive here should sit.

Thus with vague sympathy was each space barr'd,
Yet none less sure. Here shall the creature eat,
Here drink, here restless perch in cold or heat,
Setting to melody the sentence hard
Fate spells the words of. Plane the cramping floor,
Bend down the latch, and firmly bolt the door!





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