Break Me My Bounds

Break me my bounds and let me fly-- "A Career", Paul Laurence Dunbar

"Break me my bounds, and let me fly!" I heard
a carol from an egg. An unhatched bird
was singing of the vast triumphant sky
he knew was his by right. The will to fly
cannot be crushed in feathered things. The herd

may call a child's dream of flight absurd
and wean him on the pap of hope deferred
but chick or calf, you'll know him by his cry:
"Break me my bounds!"

In February's darkness, Death had spurred
to Dunbar's side. His vision was too blurred
by illness to perceive the hollow eye
that fell on him: Death said, "It's time to die."
But Dunbar only answered with this word:
"Break me my bounds."

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