The Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou - A Song Poem by Dr Ian Inkster
The Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou - A Song
Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014)
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.
The poet at several points in her work returns to the idea of black American protest as tardy and delinquent, as argued often by many white liberals at that time. Why did not black Americans as slaves and later protest and resist more? Why did European jews 'allow' themselves to be first ghettoed, then gathered, then slaughtered en masse? She argues that these are the wrong questions on the wrong side of the road. Those without power can not easily see the system they must resist, they do not have wings of knoweldge or expectations that will initiate a drive to change, to fly into an unknown place. The caged bird is not merely caged, it has no knowledge of the sky and no manner of navigating it.
This poem speaks to so many things, and I have kept my song version very simple.
Dr Ian Inkster 2016.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 1:12:58 AM # 1.0.0.1119
