 | Sonnets of the Wingless Hours |  |
22
EAGLES OF TIBERIUS.
They say at Capri that Tiberius bound
His slaves to eagles, when he had them flung
In the abysses, from the rocks that hung
Beetling above the sea and the sea's sound.
His slaves to eagles, when he had them flung
In the abysses, from the rocks that hung
Beetling above the sea and the sea's sound.
Slowly the eagle, struggling round and round
With the gagged slave that from his talons swung,
Sank through the air, to which he fiercely clung,
Until the sea caught both, and both were drowned.
With the gagged slave that from his talons swung,
Sank through the air, to which he fiercely clung,
Until the sea caught both, and both were drowned.
O eagle of the Spirit, hold thy own;
Work thy great wings, and grapple to the sky;
Let not this shackled body drag thee down
Work thy great wings, and grapple to the sky;
Let not this shackled body drag thee down
Into that stagnant sea where, by-and-by,
The ethereal and the clayey both must drown,
Bound by a link which neither can untie!
The ethereal and the clayey both must drown,
Bound by a link which neither can untie!
| Sonnets of the Wingless Hours | |