Explore "The Freeman" by Ellen Glasgow on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"_Hope is a slave, Despair is a freeman_"
A vagabond between the East and West, / Careless I greet the scourging and the rod; / I fear no terror any man may bring, / Nor any god.
The clankless chains that bound me I have rent / No more a slave to hope I cringe or cry; / Captives to Fate, men rear their prison walls, / But free am I.
I tread where arrows press upon my path, / I smile to see the danger and the dart; / My breast is bared to meet the slings of hate, / But not my heart.
I face the thunder and I face the rain, / I lift my head, defiance far I fling -- / My feet are set, I face the autumn as / I face the spring.
Around me, on the battle-fields of life, / I see men fight and fail and crouch in prayer; / Aloft I stand unfettered, for I know / The freedom of despair.