We Are All Captured Beasts

Fyodor Sologub 1863 (Saint Petersburg) – 1927 (Saint Petersburg)



We are all captured beasts,
And we howl - as we might.
We can't open the doors,
For the doors are locked tight.

If our hearts can remember tradition,
When our barking brings solace, we bark.
We don't know. Long ago we've forgotten
That it stinks badly in this zoo-park.

For our hearts can accept repetition;
Bored and weary, we cuckoo our song.
For the zoo is impersonal, habitual;
We've not longed to be free for so long.

We are all captured beasts,
And we howl - as we might.
We can't open the doors,
For the doors are locked tight.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

32 sec read
111

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCB dede dfxf ABCB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 539
Words 103
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Fyodor Sologub

Fyodor Sologub was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. more…

All Fyodor Sologub poems | Fyodor Sologub Books

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