Like a prisoner

The solitary black bird is locked in his cage.

Bars of oppression

Separate him from what he could be.

His feeble wings

Never have opened

Never felt the freedom of wind

Never felt the potential vested within them.

Instead the lonely black bird remains a captive,

Isolated in the cage that holds him back

From all he could be.

A caged bird knows more about freedom

Than one who is free.

A carefree blue bird circles the cage,

Unaware of the prisoner inside.

Twirling and spinning freely,

Wings spread wide and proud,

The blue bird sails the wind gracefully,

Gliding through the air like a dream.

So unaware the routines he takes for granted,

Are a gift for some.

Beauty masks the ignorance within.

Green flashes in the eyes of the lonely black

Bird, for a caged bird knows more about

Freedom than one who is free.

Unable to repress his longing, his want, his pain,

The lonely black bird utters one long, pitiful cry.

Surprised,

The blue bird flies closer to investigate.

From behind its bars the black bird

Drinks in the vision of its desires.

From the other side, the blue bird

Observes the pitiful sight within.

Black meets blue.

Captive meets free.

Desire meets indifference.

For a caged bird knows more about freedom

Than one who is free.

The blue bird may fly off,

Forgetting the sadness

He saw behind the bars of oppression.

He’s free to fly, to live, to be

Whatever he wishes,

Unburdened by the image of the black bird

While the lonely black bird sits in his cage,

Dreaming of life outside his bars of captivity.

The blue bird may not understand his gift,

But the black bird does

For a caged bird knows more about freedom

Than one who is free.