The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-02

| A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts ali heaven IN a rage;
A dove-house filled with doves and
pigeons
shudders hell through all its regions;
A ekylark wounded on the wing
Doth make cherub cease TO sing.
Blake.
Alas for those who never sing
And die with all their music in them
Thus wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes
in divine compassion for those whose
lives have fallen short of fulfillmeut---
whose hopes have never biossomed into
flower.
ton OF physical pain when | see a
Gagged bird--even a tame canary
1 A bird in cage, forbidden TO
spread its wings freely and Hgr sing
ing it's heart out in the dome OF
| heavens blue or under the safe, sweet
shelter of a twilight wood---such a
bird In the type to me OF all Grip
pied lives, all vain, desperate beatings
against the bars of relentless cir
cumstances, all human souls IN pri-
son.
How men have ionged TO fly from
the dawn OF human history until NOW.
when envy racks the heart of every
adventurous minded. grown-up child
who cannot afford that expensive toy
An aeroplana
Think of the ecstacy we experience
when we fly in our dreams: can any
waking JOY compare with IL?
Then think of the tiny. light, Ire
body. with beating heart inside it,
and quick. bright, eager eyes astart
with the fear of tyrant man-think
70 Vivid will 4lfra
gifted with wings. and In anguish at
being unable to use them
The soul is bird, and seldom can
1t fly as fancy dictates, onward, IN
stayed. to an unseen gaa1-upward
into the suns eye--tossed by the wind
without peril, rocked on the breast OF
the ocean.
Wrapping US round with weakness
as a garment there eomes first, the
cage OF the body; and when the
wings Of Imagination break Its bars
and bear US away past its narrow
limits. nets of all kinds are spread
TO cut short our fight-linnits OF
mind, limits or spiritual insight, lin
its even OF desire.
Who does not know the pain In
spired by a splendid sunset. that
awakens in our hearts inexplicable
longings. and leaves them ansatisfied?
That Expresses us with the conscious
ness of our feeble powers when con-
fronted by vision Of awful, Infinite
beauty. ----------------
In it's preserve we beat against the
widest bars that can hold us--and still
we see dirsly. and long for. the incon-
ceivshle. wondsous Beyond.
A bird in a cage! Yes. even If the
whole wide world is ours TO explore
and. to roam in. we know sol ethtas
of the pain and frustrated deeire OF
that prfsoned bird.
But when cur souls are bound down
within narrow limits, we experience 70
the fun the. agony. despair and rebel
lion OF lark or a linnet shut up
In a foot-square box of wire or wicker
that hangs through sun and rain
against an unyielding wall. And when
the wind blows. haunting the Wild
eyed captive with its contrast OF free
dom---what depths of songiess an
gmish its breath must bring.
Even though In the eyes ~ the
+ world we are free, there are ever and
always invisible bars that prevent us
from spreading our wings and reloic-
Ing in the attainment OF our dearest,
remotest ideal.
So strange il seems--so sad and un-
reasonahie--the things We want most
very strength of our longing for them
will bring them home some day -
ships that we thought we're wrecked
long ago, the treasures in them m
more to be seen ''tiil the sea gives up
her dead"
And the gulls call TO each other
restlessly above the waves that en-
quilted them--is that why the sea-
CULTS cry pierces our hearts like =
sword?
For those who never sing--aias'"
says the poet.
often wonder II people gifted with
singing voices value the gift "a great
iy as those others long for II who
cannot make audible music.
wonder ii beautiful woman va
ues her beauty as much as the many
to whom 1t has been denied. l think
not. judging by the tricks she plays
with it, and the poor use she often
makes of her God given treasure.
No. each one OF us wants some
thing more than. something different
from, the good things possess. d. anE
thus We forge fresh bars, wantonly.
for our iron cages.