Page:Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, 1846).djvu/86

Rh THE PRISONER.

A FRAGMENT.

the dungeon-crypts, idly did I stray,

Reckless of the lives wasting there away;

"Draw the ponderous bars! open, Warder stern!"

He dared not say me nay—the hinges harshly turn.

"Our guests are darkly lodged," I whisper'd, gazing through

The vault, whose grated eye showed heaven more gray than blue;

(This was when glad spring laughed in awaking pride;)

"Aye, darkly lodged enough!" returned my sullen guide.

Then, God forgive my youth; forgive my careless tongue;

I scoffed, as the chill chains on the damp flagstones rung:

"Confined in triple walls, art thou so much to fear,

That we must bind thee down and clench thy fetters here?"

The captive raised her face; it was as soft and mild

As sculptured marble saint, or slumbering unwean'd child;