My love must be as free

"My love must be as free" by Henry David Thoreau

from A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

     My love must be as free
        As is the eagle's wing,
     Hovering o'er land and sea
        And everything.

     I must not dim my eye
        In thy saloon,
     I must not leave my sky
        And nightly moon.

     Be not the fowler's net
        Which stays my flight,
     And craftily is set
        T'allure the sight.

     But be the favoring gale
        That bears me on,
     And still doth fill my sail
        When thou art gone.

     I cannot leave my sky
        For thy caprice,
     True love would soar as high
        As heaven is.

     The eagle would not brook
        Her mate thus won,
     Who trained his eye to look
        Beneath the sun.

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.