Remember, thy grand prerogative is free unshackled utterance,
And suffer not the flood-gates of secresy to lock the full river of thy speech.
Come, I will show thee an affliction, unnumbered among this world's sorrows,
Yet real and wearisome and constant, embittering the cup of life.
There be, who can think within themselves, and the fire burneth at their heart,
And eloquence waiteth at their lips, yet they speak not with their tongue:
There be, whom zeal quickeneth, or slander stirreth to reply,
Or need constraineth to ask, or pity sendeth as her messengers,
But nervous dread and sensitive shame freeze the current of their speech;
The mouth is sealed as with lead, a cold weight presseth on the heart,