Inspired by "Caged Bird"

The free bird does not know it’s free. It was born free, it’s grown up free, and it’s never known what it is to not be free. It flies by the caged bird and feels pity, but it does not truly know what it is to be in its place. It hears the pain in the caged bird’s song but cannot reach that depth of pain itself. It may help the caged bird try to escape, but there are no stakes for the free bird, so it flies away when the keeper of the cage comes to stop it.

It does not want to be caged too.

It was born free; it can fly away from the captor.

The caged bird was born into captivity. It didn’t get to fly away. It can only sing of its pain, hoping to tell the world of its pain and hope it hears. Hope that they free it. Hope that they try to keep other birds from being caged.

Hope it doesn’t just hear, but it listens.

Yet the free bird doesn’t listen. Not really. It pauses to listen to the sad song. It wants to help the caged bird. It may fly down and try to free it. But every time the keeper of the cage returns, the free bird flies away. And the keeper of the cage secures the cage, undoing any progress the free bird made.

Despite this pattern, the caged bird continues to sing. It continues to sing of its pain and story. The free birds continue to come, just as they continue to leave when the keeper returns. The keeper continues to undo any progress and keep the bird caged. And the caged bird continues to sing, waiting for the free bird that will risk its own freedom to free the caged bird.

One day, a free bird hears the song. It flies to the cage to help the caged bird. The keeper returns, and the caged bird waits for the free bird to fly away.

But this time, the free bird doesn’t.

The free bird continues to try to undo the cage. This free bird doesn’t understand why it should be free when this bird is not. This free bird wonders what makes it more worthy of the wind on its wings than this bird. This free bird cannot take on the keeper of the cage by itself, and so it is killed. It lies, stomped, next to the cage and the caged bird sings a new song. A song of pain. A song for the one free bird that didn’t want to be free if not every bird could be.

The caged bird watched as many free birds flew towards the song, only to turn away upon seeing the body of the last free bird that tried to help. They were afraid to try and help this caged bird. No free bird could defeat the keeper of the cage.

Little do these free birds know,

that if only they would work together,

they could hold off the keeper of the cage

and undo the cage.

One day, the caged bird stopped singing and the free birds forgot it was ever there.