Paralysis

For moveless limbs no pity I crave,     That never were swift! Still all I prize,     Laughter and thought and friends, I have;     No fool to heave luxurious sighs     For the woods and hills that I never knew.     The more excellent way's yet mine! And you     Flower-laden come to the clean white cell,     And we talk as ever, am I not the same?     With our hearts we love, immutable,     You without pity, I without shame.     We talk as of old; as of old you go     Out under the sky, and laughing, I know,     Flit through the streets, your heart all me;     Till you gain the world beyond the town.     Then, I fade from your heart, quietly;     And your fleet steps quicken. The strong down     Smiles you welcome there; the woods that love you     Close lovely and conquering arms above you.     O ever-moving, O lithe and free!     Fast in my linen prison I press     On impassable bars, or emptily     Laugh in my great loneliness.     And still in the white neat bed I strive     Most impotently against that gyve;     Being less now than a thought, even,     To you alone with your hills and heaven.