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,

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)

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.