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Locked Inside

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1911

She beats upon her bolted door,
   With faint weak hands;
Drearily walks the narrow floor;
Sullenly sits, blank walls before;
  Despairing stands.

Life calls her, Duty, Pleasure, Gain–
  Her dreams respond;
But the blank daylights wax and wane,
Dull peace, sharp agony, slow pain–
  No hope beyond.

Till she comes a thought! She lifts her head,
  The world grows wide!
A voice–as if clear words were said–
"Your door, O long imprisonéd,
  Is locked inside!"

Published in Suffrage Songs and Verses
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