Prisoner
Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)
`Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?'
`It was my master,' said the prisoner.
`I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power,
and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king.
When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord,
and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.'
`Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?'
`It was I,' said the prisoner, `who forged this chain very carefully.
I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive
leaving me in a freedom undisturbed.
Thus night and day I worked at the chain
with huge fires and cruel hard strokes.
When at last the work was done
and the links were complete and unbreakable,
I found that it held me in its grip.'
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 147 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | X AAXXX B XXXBXXXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 792 |
Words | 156 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 1, 8 |
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"Prisoner" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29514/prisoner>.
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