Page:The complete poems of Emily Bronte.djvu/73

Rh VIII

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);

'Ay, 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?'