Those who have clipped your wings will never see
Ripe fruit a-dropping from the cocoa-tree,
Or smell the dusky sandalwood’s perfume,
Or see the date-palms in their summer bloom;
But your wild scream may tell, in puny rage,
The sea’s horizon was your only cage.
Those who have snared you here will never know
The tropic isles with coral white as snow
Or red as blood, the deep, enchanted pool
Where tinted fishes swim in waters cool;
But your wings, with their shades of sky and sea,
Will grace their cheerless, sad monotony.
Plaything of fools, your masters can not feel
They are the captives bound upon the wheel!
You, the poor prisoner, have lived and flown
In gorgeous lands, though now you mope alone,
The symbol of a mighty liberty
To earth-born folk who dully plod and die.
(Laura Benet)
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Based on Topics: Sadness Poems, Anger Poems, Sign & Symbol Poems, Fool Poems, Romantic Love PoemsBased on Keywords: sandalwood, a-dropping, cocoa-tree, date-palms