My hands are loosed from chains <br />The field awaits my presence today <br />A while longer, the sun's heat remains <br />The toil, my bones in pain do pay <br /> <br />I stretch my arms, present my hands <br />Another night in bound condition <br />And dream of oasis in welcome lands <br />That cools my skin and reverse attrition <br /> <br />My heart leaps with sudden sound <br />The wake up noise of the morning guard <br />The dream is vanished, my hands unbound <br />Again the heat, again the the stone yard <br /> <br />A small relief as my muscles surrender <br />The tenth stone positioned to the master's word <br />Glancing upward I see a hawk's flight plunder <br />Chased away by a smaller bird <br /> <br />Oh, what may I know as I study the sky? <br />May I smile, take courage, and death do defy? <br />Why is the red-winged blackbird so brave? <br />Has the hawk been bewitched, has he lost his fight? <br />To whom is my worth, what makes me a slave? <br />My racing thoughts or chains in the night? <br /> <br />Now ends the day, here are my limbs <br />Again to be bound as the light dims <br />But new hope unfolds as I see with my eyes <br />The heart of the small bird rise <br /> <br />To do what it must in spite of the foe <br />It darts at the hawk, reclaiming it's meadow <br /> <br />And so fear reigns no more, nor will I behave <br />As if I believe that I am a slave <br />Fear not the chains, nor my master's stone cart <br />I'll ponder the small bird, it's fighting heart <br /> <br />For he is no slave whose mind is his own <br />Though his body be bound, his work to be shown <br />The hawk's courage rests only in the shadow cast <br />I was free and am free and freedom will last<br /><br />R. Glenn Disney<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-red-winged-blackbird/
