| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. Sonnet: “Like an enfranchised bird, that wildly springs” | | By Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan) Norton (1808–1877) |
| | | LIKE an enfranchised bird, that wildly springs, | |
| With a keen sparkle in his glancing eye, | |
| And a strong effort in his quivering wings, | |
| Up to the blue vault of the happy sky,— | |
| So my enamored heart, so long thine own, | 5 |
| At length from Love’s imprisonment set free, | |
| Goes forth into the open world alone, | |
| Glad and exulting in its liberty: | |
| But like that helpless bird (confined so long, | |
| His weary wings have lost all power to soar) | 10 |
| Who soon forgets to trill his joyous song, | |
| And, feebly fluttering, sinks to earth once more,— | |
| So from its former bonds released in vain, | |
| My heart still feels the weight of that remembered chain. | | | | |
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