 | The Triangular Society |  |
A CAGED LION.
He stands behind his iron bars,
Untamed, untamable and proud,
Disgraced by bondage, seamed by scars,
The centre of a taunting crowd.
Untamed, untamable and proud,
Disgraced by bondage, seamed by scars,
The centre of a taunting crowd.
Hunger and blows have vanquished him,
Weakened his limbs and dwarfed his size,
Yet all his woes have failed to dim
The yellow splendor of his eyes,—
Weakened his limbs and dwarfed his size,
Yet all his woes have failed to dim
The yellow splendor of his eyes,—
Which note no face in all the throng,
But see across, beyond, afar,
The jungle depths, remembered long,
And desert palms of Africa.
But see across, beyond, afar,
The jungle depths, remembered long,
And desert palms of Africa.
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So human souls, enslaved by chance,
Deformed by time's remorseless scars,
And scourged by cruel circumstance,
Behind Fate's hindering prison-bars,—
Deformed by time's remorseless scars,
And scourged by cruel circumstance,
Behind Fate's hindering prison-bars,—
Heedless alike of praise and jeers,
Blind to the present's chilly truth,
See, through the unfriendly crowd of years,
The torrid tropics of their youth!
Blind to the present's chilly truth,
See, through the unfriendly crowd of years,
The torrid tropics of their youth!
| The Triangular Society | |