For the free spirit no measure or limits bound it,
Nowhere is barred to it, whither it cannot soar,
It will not perish or lose faith in self, though roars
Life's chaos, and dark universal shapes surround it.
It opens doors to hearts', souls' mysteries profoundest,
It learns what was not learned in the long years of yore,
Like phoenix from the ashes, it will rise once more
From the pit where beasts of darkness would confound it.
Mighty, eternal, from a million suns created,
Thunder and lightning in its hands, it will not fail,
Though the fire seethes it, though the frosty tempests flail...
Why do you count for naught, here, spirit of unabated
Strength, here where, their fetters chiming o'er their fate, a
Slave gives his fellow slave blood and fire in full scale.
1915