My tower was grimly builded,
With many a bolt and bar,
“And here," I thought, “I will keep my life From the bitter world afar.”

Dark and chill was the stony floor,
Where never a sunbeam lay,
And the mould crept up on the dreary wall,
With its ghost touch, day by day.

One morn, in my sullen musings, A flutter and cry I heard; And close at the rusty casement
There clung a frightened bird.

Then back I flung the shutter
That was never before undone,
And I kept till its wings were rested the little weary one

But in through the open window,
Which I had forgot close,
There had burst a gush of sunshine
And a summer scent of rose.

For all the while I had burrowed
There in my dingy tower,
Lo! the birds had sung and the leaves had danced
From hour to sunny hour.

And such balm and warmth and beauty
Came drifting in since then,
That window still stands open
And shall never be shut again.


Which sentence BEST captures the theme of the poem?

A. We see beauty of the world only when we help others.

B. Nature continues to change regardless of our efforts to control it.

C. If we isolate ourselves, we stop seeing the beauty that surrounds us.

D. Because memory is deceptive, we must constantly test it against reality.