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Poem-a-Day

The only daily poetry series publishing new work by today’s poets.

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Poem-a-day

Freedom and Truth

To a Friend.

The shrine is vowed to freedom, but, my friend, 
Freedom is but a means to gain an end. 
Freedom should build the temple, but the shrine 
Be consecrate to thought still more divine. 
The human bliss which angel hopes foresaw 
Is liberty to comprehend the law. 
Give, then, thy book a larger scope and frame, 
Comprising means and end in Truth’s great name.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 14, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Margaret Fuller

Margaret Fuller
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Randall Mann is the Guest Editor of August. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mann about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Neoteric Kama No Sutra Frank X Walker 02/23/2023
Boihood Jari Bradley 02/22/2023
Self-Care Faylita Hicks 02/21/2023
her aint even at de funeral avery r. young 02/20/2023
Plácido’s Farewell to His Mother Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés 02/19/2023
The Eyes of My Regret Angelina Weld Grimké 02/18/2023
The Lose Your Mother Suite VI. “across the surface of my studied speech” Remica Bingham-Risher 02/17/2023
St. Valentine, Bishop of Terni, probably beheaded, was also the patron saint of asthma, beekeepers, and epilepsy, so he might have said Lynne Thompson 02/16/2023
An Act of Love Tommye Blount 02/15/2023
Wetland francine j. harris 02/14/2023

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