 | Impressions of Italy and Other Poems |  |
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TO SILVIO PELLICO.
Why, what is Liberty?—To keep, like thee,The Soul unstained by fetters, and to pour
High feelings forth, like bright waves to a shore,
Unbarred—unbounded—each itself a Sea!
Oh! Victor—thus most nobly, proudly free
When most entrammelled!—Free to feel, to adore,
To build blest Visions in thy high heart's core;
To be in Thought what thou in Truth shalt be,
Ere many years have swept along the path
Designed for them by Heaven. Upon his throne,
Girt round with fear, and jealousy, and wrath,
Is many a King less free than thou wert, lone
In thy locked dungeon, since Prayer's mighty breath
Dissolved thy chains, and Faith said still “hope on!”
| Impressions of Italy and Other Poems | |