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Maya Angelou (4 April 1928)
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
an 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.
Read poems about / on: freedom, sky, sun, wind, dream, tree
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I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
When each resistance affirms entrapment,
the bird that’s beating in its boned cage
knows the bars are true by his own rage:
the truth cannot be bent with argument.
Whether caged or cold, the scared bird must sing
to keep warm or sane and the suffering
beyond bars / in his heart' the same thing:
the scared bird fears that the scared bird might sing.
For knowing that I'd always set him free,
his rhapsody would loose the shrill intent
with which he cries out his captivity:
the end that’s known brings out the song's content.
Look back, look back, the scared bird sings to me,
There was a man who died to set you free.
i love this poem all Maya Angelou's poems are lovely to read i Love her she is a Phenomenal women
i hope to met her one day! ! ! she's very down to earth! ! And a Beautiful woman
Beautiful and profound depth, the repetition of the last lines added greater impact.
Beautiful...... It's simplicity is heartbreaking.
Maya - a natural poet. Full of insight in the common things that make sense to all. This poem reminds me of the type of songs that lie in the hearts of bondmen and bondwomen, its quite a song of hunger for liberty. Kudos my poet
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
..........................nice!
easy to read and understand such pure simplicity i love this poem.
Very nice. It's nice to come across poems that you can grasp easily no fancy wording or anything. Anyone can understand and make their own meaning of them
I thought I saw a pussy cat..
Day goes on and on as this little bird can only lay down and cry
'Cause his wings are clipped and he's caged but he was born to fly
Kept under lock and key his freedom denied
What can he do with so many rules he must abide
Nowhere to go and nowhere to hide
When there's a four walled cage stopping your flight
How can it be that the caged bird still sings
How can its days have so much reason with such dark surroundings
For the song is sad and the caged bird is scared
Once it was the cage but soon it was the outside it feared..
Caged and silent sits the beautiful songbird,
For he knows his song will never be heard,
Drowned out by the caws of ravenous crows,
Whose dreadful cacophony simply grows and grows......
.......................as a tribute to the beautifully plaintive words of.Maya in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings