English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 480. On the Castle of Chillon |
| | | George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
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| ETERNAL SPIRIT of the chainless Mind! | |
| Brightest in dungeons, Liberty, thou art,— | |
| For there thy habitation is the heart— | |
| The heart which love of Thee alone can bind; | |
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| And when thy sons to fetters are consign’d, | 5 |
| To fetters, and the damp vault’s dayless gloom, | |
| Their country conquers with their martyrdom, | |
| And Freedom’s fame finds wings on every wind. | |
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| Chillon! thy prison is a holy place | |
| And thy sad floor an altar, for ’twas trod, | 10 |
| Until his very steps have left a trace | |
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| Worn as if thy cold pavement were a sod, | |
| By Bonnivard! May none those marks efface! | |
| For they appeal from tyranny to God. | |
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