Bondage

The sleet is falling where the cedar bough
Droops like an aging man with weight of ~ears;
Though born of misty cloud, the sleet appears
As burdensome as clanking armor now.

The giant pine may shape a vessel's prow,
Yet bend beneath these silvef-pointed spears;
Like tinkling castanets the burden clears,
When sunny warmth descends or tempests plow.

Strange how the minor things of living may
Like sleet, congeal and bind us where we stand!
We droop, but cannot cast the load away,
And we are icebound by the day's demand;
The bondage yields when wind of sorrow stings,
And glow of joy can liberate our wings.

Kansas Poets
Edited by May William Ward
(New York: Henry Harrison. 1935)
Page 169