Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative | ||
IV. YOUTH.
Why should I fear the winter now, when freeTo meet and mingle in the strifes of man;
The danger to defy which now I see,
The oppressor to o'erthrow whom now I can!
172
Is gone!—the muscle in my arm is strong;
No longer is there trembling in my knees,
And my soul kindles at the look of wrong,
And burns in free defiance!—never more
Let me recall the hour when I was weak,
To shrink, to seek for refuge, to implore;
When I was scorn'd or trampled, but to speak,
When anger, rising high, though crouching low,
Should, like the tiger, spring upon his foe.
Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative | ||