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 | The Poetical Works of James Madison Bell |  |
To chain and scourge this mortal frame,
It were a sin and burning shame;
But who can estimate the doom
Of those that quench and shroud in gloom
The only lamp which God hath given,
To light the soul in earth or heaven?
While this external will expand,
In proud defiance of the brand,
The mind, that germ of tender growth—
That plant of far transcendent worth,
Will neither bud nor bloom nor bear,
Where thraldom's breath infects the air.
It were a sin and burning shame;
But who can estimate the doom
Of those that quench and shroud in gloom
The only lamp which God hath given,
To light the soul in earth or heaven?
While this external will expand,
In proud defiance of the brand,
The mind, that germ of tender growth—
That plant of far transcendent worth,
Will neither bud nor bloom nor bear,
Where thraldom's breath infects the air.
| The Poetical Works of James Madison Bell | |