Poems (Argent)/The Chained Eagle
THE CHAINED EAGLE.
SUBLIME, majestical and grand,Yet captive in an alien land!
The tameless fire within thine eyeThat scans the wide expanse of sky,
Unflinching sees the hot sun glareHis fiery beams athwart the air.
Poor captured eagle! thou so greatArt doomed to an ignoble fate.
The king of birds bereft of flightAnd freedom of the air and light!
What though the garden's rich perfumeLifts all the landscape out of gloom?
Thou mark'st not all this bright array,The peerless roses, flow'rets gay.
The pansies blowing fair and freeAnd lilies, what are they to thee?
Within thy fierce and wild dark eyeA homesick thought doth seem to lie,
And in the vision of thy breastImprinted is the mountain crest,
Thine eyrie home, all grim and hoar,Where the loud surges evermore
Beat in a savage tumult o'erThe turbulent waves of that wild shore.
The world-worn rocks thou lov'dst, still lieOpen to earth and air and sky.
Once bonnie Scotland, proud and free,Owned thee the monarch of the sea.
And still, methinks, upon thine earThe waves' loud music thou canst hear,
The whirling foam that loved to break,And o'er thee in a whirlwind shake.
No more, poor bird, shall such delightDazzle thy lofty spirit's flight.
No more the rapture born of strife,The grandeur of thine early life,
Will cry around thee, for thy fateIs to be servile to the great!
And nought can compensate to theeSince thou hast lost thy liberty!