POEMS.
135
THE CRY OF GENIUS.
Fetter me down—but my bounding form
Will burst from the pond'rous chain,
Which care and want can forge to check
The workings of the brain.
Will burst from the pond'rous chain,
Which care and want can forge to check
The workings of the brain.
Know ye my strength? A heaven-born
And spanless thing am I;
And the scorning of earth's mighty ones,
Genius can well defy!
And spanless thing am I;
And the scorning of earth's mighty ones,
Genius can well defy!
Hollow-cheeked poverty comes to lend
A link to those fetters brave,
Which are to drag down my panting form
To the confines of the grave!
A link to those fetters brave,
Which are to drag down my panting form
To the confines of the grave!
It comes in vain! I shall find no grave!
I do, and my deeds live on,
When the brain and the hand, and their reason and might,
In the flight of time are gone!
I do, and my deeds live on,
When the brain and the hand, and their reason and might,
In the flight of time are gone!
