 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
FLIGHT, NOT FREEDOM.
I.
Is it freedom—speeding lonely—Reft of all that being brought—
O'er life's ocean—brooding only
Over past resource of thought?
Freedom!—all abandoned, steering,
Loose from every tie and stay,
With the currents idly veering,
Heedless where they stop or stray—
Still unfeeling, still uncaring,
If the billows serve or sway?
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II.
Ask the cloud, when sadly drifting,With the rising wind it goes—
Ask the billow, storm-uplifting,
Into terror from repose—
Ask the meteor, sudden gushing,
Into darkness, shorn of light;
Or the river, helpless rushing,
Down to ocean from its height:
Ask of these, which Fate is hushing,
If 'tis freedom follows flight?
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |