I, too, know why the caged bird sings,

For I’ve felt his deep, welling rage:

Tasted it, lived with it,

Locked within a more insidious cage -

One defined by the minds of men

Calloused by bigotry beyond my ken.

The bird is trapped by physical bars

But I’ve been able to travel far;

I’ve sampled freedoms enjoyed by others

Who jealously tried to deny and smother

A growing surety deep within my breast -

The certainty they weren’t inherently best.

So those bars of intolerance began to fail,

Chinks appeared in that intellectual jail;

As the song changed from angry despair,

Burgeoning hope permeated the air…

Though music rang out from everywhere

I no longer sang, in futility, of Freedom.

© 7/14/2008 Thurman P. Woodfork

Inspired by Maya Angelou's

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings".