dots-menu
×

Home  »  Yale Book of American Verse  »  50 Freedom for the Mind

Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.

William Lloyd Garrison 1805–1879

William Lloyd Garrison

50 Freedom for the Mind

HIGH walls and huge the body may confine,

And iron grates obstruct the prisoner’s gaze,

And massive bolts may baffle his design,

And vigilant keepers watch his devious ways:

Yet scorns the immortal mind this base control!

No chains can bind it, and no cell enclose:

Swifter than light, it flies from pole to pole,

And, in a flash, from earth to heaven it goes!

It leaps from mount to mount—from vale to vale

It wanders, plucking honeyed fruits and flowers;

It visits home, to hear the fireside tale,

Or in sweet converse pass the joyous hours.

’T is up before the sun, roaming afar,

And, in its watches, wearies every star!