Explore "Locked Inside (the Forerunner)" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
She beats upon her bolted door, / With faint weak hands; / Drearily walks the narrow floor; / Sullenly sits, blank walls before; / Despairing stands.
Life calls her, Duty, Pleasure, Gain -- / Her dreams respond; / But the blank daylights wax and wane, / Dull peace, sharp agony, slow pain -- / No hope beyond.
Till she comes a thought! She lifts her head, / The world grows wide! / A voice -- as if clear words were said -- / "Your door, O long imprisonéd, / Is locked inside! "