I lash and writhe against my prison bars, <br />And watch with sullen eyes the gaping crowd . . <br />Give me my freedom and the burning stars, <br />The hollow sky, and crags of moonlit cloud! <br /> <br />Once I might range across the trackless plain, <br />And roar with joy, until the desert air <br />And wide horizons echoed it amain: <br />I feared no foe, for I was monarch there! <br /> <br />I saw my shadow on the parching sand, <br />When the hot sun had kissed the mountain's rim; <br />And when the moon rose o'er long wastes of land, <br />I sought my prey by some still river's brim; <br /> <br />And with me my fierce love, my tawny mate, <br />Meet mother of strong cubs, meet lion's bride . . <br />We made our lair in regions desolate, <br />The solitude of wildernesses wide. <br /> <br />They slew her . . . and I watched the life-blood flow <br />From her torn flank, and her proud eyes grow dim: <br />I howled her dirge above her while the low, <br />Red moon clomb up the black horizon's rim. <br /> <br />Me, they entrapped . . . cowards! They did not dare <br />To fight. as brave men do, without disguise, <br />And face my unleashed rage! The hidden snare <br />Was their device to win an untamed prize. <br /> <br />I am a captive . . . not for me the vast, <br />White dome of sky above the blinding sand, <br />The sweeping rapture of the desert blast <br />Across long ranges of untrodden land! <br /> <br />Yet still they fetter not my thought! In dreams <br />I, desert-born, tread the hot wastes once more, <br />Quench my deep thirst in cool, untainted streams, <br />And shake the darkness with my kingly roar!<br /><br />Lucy Maud Montgomery<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-prisoner-5/
