When Maya Reminds Me

On the passing of Maya Angelou (1928 -2014). When I think of Maya I am reminded that poetry never sleeps in me. Like Maya and other poets the words are always just beneath the surface waiting to meet the page. I am reminded that I have and will wear many hats in my life and yet the hat of poet is always there beneath every other personification I will know in my days. More than anything I am reminded that spirit and soul must prevail above circumstance because circumstance is always shared and is always temporary and ones soul is the costant of their own.

The following poem is Maya’s most renowned piece, written of a time in her life when she felt those confinements of a caged bird longing for freedom, longing to know the sky.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
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.

Maya Angelou


　
peace CF