| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. The Prisoner of Chillon | | By George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | | ETERNAL spirit of the chainless mind! | |
| Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art; | |
| For there thy habitation is the heart,— | |
| The heart which love of thee alone can bind; | |
| And when thy sons to fetters are consigned,— | 5 |
| To fetters, and the damp vault’s dayless gloom, | |
| Their country conquers with their martyrdom, | |
| And Freedom’s fame finds wings on every wind. | |
| Chillon! thy prison is a holy place, | |
| And thy sad floor an altar; for ’t was trod, | 10 |
| Until his very steps have left a trace | |
| Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, | |
| By Bonnivard! May none those marks efface! | |
| For they appeal from tyranny to God. | | | | |
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