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| PLUNGED in night, I sit alone | |
| Eyeless on this dungeon stone, | |
| Naked, shaggy and unkempt, | |
| Dreaming dreams no soul hath dreamt. | |
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| Rats and vermin round my feet | 5 |
| Play unharmed, companions sweet, | |
| Spiders weave me overhead | |
| Silken curtains for my bed. | |
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| Day by day the mould I smell | |
| Of this fungus-blistered cell; | 10 |
| Nightly in my haunted sleep | |
| O’er my face the lizards creep. | |
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| Gyves of iron scrape and burn | |
| Wrists and ankles when I turn, | |
| And my collared neck is raw | 15 |
| With the teeth of brass that gnaw. | |
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| God of Israel, canst Thou see | |
| All my fierce captivity? | |
| Do thy sinews feel my pains? | |
| Hearest Thou the clanking chains? | 20 |
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| Thou who madest me so fair, | |
| Strong and buoyant as the air, | |
| Tall and noble as a tree, | |
| With the passions of the sea, | |
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| Swift as horse upon my feet, | 25 |
| Fierce as lion in my heat, | |
| Rending, like a wisp of hay, | |
| All that dared withstand my way, | |
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| Canst Thou see me through the gloom | |
| Of this subterranean tomb,— | 30 |
| Blinded tiger in his den, | |
| Once the lord and prince of men? | |
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| Clay was I; the potter Thou | |
| With Thy thumb-nail smooth’dst my brow, | |
| Roll’dst the spital-moistened sands | 35 |
| Into limbs between Thy hands. | |
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| Thou didst pour into my blood | |
| Fury of the fire and flood, | |
| And upon the boundless skies | |
| Thou didst first unclose my eyes. | 40 |
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| And my breath of life was flame; | |
| God-like from the source it came, | |
| Whirling round like furious wind | |
| Thoughts upgathered in the mind. | |
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| Strong Thou mad’st me, till at length | 45 |
| All my weakness was my strength; | |
| Tortured am I, blind and wrecked, | |
| For a faulty architect. | |
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| From the woman at my side, | |
| Was I woman-like to hide | 50 |
| What she asked me, as if fear | |
| Could my iron heart come near? | |
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| Nay, I scorned and scorn again | |
| Cowards who their tongues restrain; | |
| Cared I no more for Thy laws | 55 |
| Than a wind of scattered straws. | |
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| When the earth quaked at my name | |
| And my blood was all aflame, | |
| Who was I to lie, and cheat | |
| Her who clung about my feet? | 60 |
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| From Thy open nostrils blow | |
| Wind and tempest, rain and snow; | |
| Dost Thou curse them on their course, | |
| For the fury of their force? | |
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| Tortured am I, wracked and bowed, | 65 |
| But the soul within is proud; | |
| Dungeon fetters cannot still | |
| Forces of the tameless will. | |
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| Israel’s God, come down and see | |
| All my fierce captivity; | 70 |
| Let Thy sinews feel my pains, | |
| With Thy fingers lift my chains. | |
| |
| Then, with thunder loud and wild, | |
| Comfort Thou Thy rebel child, | |
| And with lightning split in twain | 75 |
| Loveless heart and sightless brain. | |
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| Give me splendor in my death— | |
| Not this sickening dungeon breath, | |
| Creeping down my blood like slime, | |
| Till it wastes me in my prime. | 80 |
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| Give me back, for one blind hour, | |
| Half my former rage and power, | |
| And some giant crisis send | |
| Meet to prove a hero’s end. | |
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| Then, O God, Thy mercy show— | 85 |
| Crush him in the overthrow | |
| At whose life they scorn and point, | |
| By its greatness out of joint. | |
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