TO FELIX and TOTO

“I am not free—
And it may be
Life is too tight around my shins;
For, unlike you,
I can't break through
A truant where the blue begins.

“Out of the very element
Of bondage, that here holds me pent,
I'll make my furious sonnet:
I'll turn my noose
To tightrope use
And madly dance upon it.

“So I will take
My leash, and make
A wilder and more subtle fleeing
And I shall be
More escapading and more free
Than you have ever dreamed of being!”