"Sympathy"

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
   When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
   When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing
   Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
   And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
   When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
   But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!


Written in 1899 by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906)


My neighbour told me this morning that her son, only a year or so younger than me, had been found dead at his London flat yesterday.  I only met him once, but I know that he was a troubled man for many years.  I hope that his soul is now at peace, and I am praying for his mother who is suffering the deep pain of a loss that every parent fears.