The Caged Bird Sings

The diseased girl in the wheelchair, who is too weak and tired to go to school anymore, stays home and mourns what she cannot have.  She is much loved and well cared for, but… the world, the great big world out there, is not hers to discover, hers to explore.  Teenaged dreams locked up in atrophying muscles learn to be still… learn to sing…
On this day, a great poet has passed into eternity.  In tribute to her and to her words, which found me in my cage when I needed them most, I am sharing here the heart of Maya Angelou expressed in one of her many poems:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

May she rest in peace – for now she soars to heaven as she sings…