THE CAPTIVE EAGLE.
Hail, noble captive! king of birds!
What tongue can tell thy misery!
Were thy dumb sorrow put in words,
What heart that would not pity thee?
What tongue can tell thy misery!
Were thy dumb sorrow put in words,
What heart that would not pity thee?
Undazzled to the orb of day
Thine eye of light looks up in vain:
It cannot melt thy chains away:
Thou never shalt be free again.
Thine eye of light looks up in vain:
It cannot melt thy chains away:
Thou never shalt be free again.
Flap thy broad wings, spend all thy strength;
Scream on, poor bird! you idly rave:
That royal crest shall droop at length;
For thou art doomed to be a slave.
Scream on, poor bird! you idly rave:
That royal crest shall droop at length;
For thou art doomed to be a slave.
Thou look'st up to the hollow skies,
Where thou hast wound thy spiral flight,—
Those azure depths where human eyes
Shrink from the intolerable light.
Where thou hast wound thy spiral flight,—
Those azure depths where human eyes
Shrink from the intolerable light.
Thou gazest till thou dost forget
The weight and pressure of thy chain;
And, upward striving, thinkest yet
Thy bright blue home thou shalt regain.
The weight and pressure of thy chain;
And, upward striving, thinkest yet
Thy bright blue home thou shalt regain.
