"I am not free —
      And it may be
Life is too tight around my shins;
      For, unlike you,
      I can't break through,
A truant where the blue begins.

     "Out of the very element
      Of bondage, that here holds me pent,
I'll make my furious sonnet:
      I'll turn my noose
      To tightrope use
And madly dance upon it.

     "So I will take
       My leash, and make
A wilder and more subtle fleeing —
      And I shall be
      More escapading and more free
Than you have ever dreamed of being!"