A SONNET. <br /> <br /> <br />Chains may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee, <br />Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame! <br />For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaim <br />The everlasting creed of liberty. <br />That creed is written on the untrampled snow, <br />Thundered by torrents which no power can hold, <br />Save that of God, when he sends forth his cold, <br />And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow. <br />Thou, while thy prison walls were dark around, <br />Didst meditate the lesson Nature taught, <br />And to thy brief captivity was brought <br />A vision of thy Switzerland unbound. <br />The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened thee <br />For the great work to set thy country free.<br /><br />William Cullen Bryant<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/william-tell/
