Caged Bird

During Black History Month, we celebrate poet, activist, and storyteller Maya Angelou.  At the age of eight, Angelou stopped speaking and remained mute until she was twelve, when her English teacher encouraged her with poetry.  By the time she was thirty, she had joined the Harlem Writer’s Guild, setting the scene for her virtuosic literary career. 

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Caged Bird

by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps 

on the back of the wind 

and floats downstream 

till the current ends 

and dips his wing 

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 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 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.