Classic Poem

Who never has beheld the fields grow green
From behind prison bars,
Nor from a narrow cell at twilight seen
The dear forbidden stars
Glisten behind the shadow of a wall
Where Death stands guard,
Nor ever heard the dreadful hammers fall
On a new scaffold-board;—

Who never has from joy been shut away,
By the proud world forgot,
And waited, hour by hour, and day by day
With human souls that rot
Under the lash of heartless tyranny
Where Life has nought to give
Save tears—he knows not what it means to die,
Nor what it means to live!