Lucy Maud Montgomery (Люси Мод Монтгомери)
The Prisoner
I lash and writhe against my prison bars, And watch with sullen eyes the gaping crowd . . Give me my freedom and the burning stars, The hollow sky, and crags of moonlit cloud! Once I might range across the trackless plain, And roar with joy, until the desert air And wide horizons echoed it amain: I feared no foe, for I was monarch there! I saw my shadow on the parching sand, When the hot sun had kissed the mountain’s rim; And when the moon rose o’er long wastes of land, I sought my prey by some still river’s brim; And with me my fierce love, my tawny mate, Meet mother of strong cubs, meet lion’s bride . . We made our lair in regions desolate, The solitude of wildernesses wide. They slew her . . . and I watched the life-blood flow From her torn flank, and her proud eyes grow dim: I howled her dirge above her while the low, Red moon clomb up the black horizon’s rim. Me, they entrapped . . . cowards! They did not dare To fight. as brave men do, without disguise, And face my unleashed rage! The hidden snare Was their device to win an untamed prize. I am a captive . . . not for me the vast, White dome of sky above the blinding sand, The sweeping rapture of the desert blast Across long ranges of untrodden land! Yet still they fetter not my thought! In dreams I, desert-born, tread the hot wastes once more, Quench my deep thirst in cool, untainted streams, And shake the darkness with my kingly roar!
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s other poems:
- The Truce of Night
- When the Fishing Boats Go Out
- On the Bay
- The Hill Maples
- With Tears They Buried You Today
Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):
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