and the caged bird sings....

So when the moment came, the world stood still, and naught could be seen or heard through her mind but the sound of silence and random pop-up thoughts, curiously so was the one other sound that drowned not with the rest of the world. It was the singing bird in the cage. Symphony respected not private thoughts and often intruded with song. So while the caged bird sang only in her subconscious, today the melody pierced through, particularly loud, and even became her contemplation.

She walked up to the cage and peered in her eyes. ‘Symphony, what do you sing about?’ and she was further lost in a world where Symphony answered. Symphony was happy to be there, nourished and embellished with all that she needed….or so it seemed.

‘How is it then that I have wings and pretty colours, the heart to entertain all day long and nothing to complain about, and yet beyond this cage is a life I shall never know. For though I understand the concept of the world being a cruel cruel place and this a haven, perhaps somewhere in the distance beyond the rainbow is something that ought to be mine. Perhaps I ought to sing of something un-similar to this, but all I know is within this cage… but something in the beyond beckons upon my heart to reach out and sing a song which will be revealed to me, but only upon my release, a song which it appears I may never know. I am a caged bird with the basic necessities but am I ungrateful to desire the sustenance that only an un-caged world can provide? There is more to life than who I reveal to the world and I sing as normal, but within my melody is sadness but joy, satisfaction but hunger, water but still….thirst.

So she reached forth and opened the cage. Symphony flew through with aggressive desperation and her melody sounded more liberated. Excited at the prospect of doing her some justice she opened the window. ‘Go Symphony, go!’ and she did.

So she sat in her chair and re-drowned in her thoughts wondering if to walk out the door and never come back to the life that was all she knew. Symphony was her inspiration. She looked up. Puzzled she noted that Symphony was back, un-diverted and of her own free will, into her cage she flew. The cage door remained open. So Symphony was neither in the cage nor out and what a confused melody she sang.

‘I understand’ she said to Symphony. ‘A little taster once in a while perhaps, but of what consequence is that? Does it nourish your soul, inspire you to explore or does the fear of the unknown signal your return? For all you know Symphony, is that little cage and even when now the choice is yours, its not that easy a decision to make, is it? The world neither labels you a trespasser, nor welcomes you with open arms’

She stared at the door to the world she knew and even ventured to peer outside, and though she felt caged like Symphony, she understood then that should she take one step out in the cold, she wouldn’t know if to turn left or right. If she wished hard enough she thought enthusiastically, a voice would lead her to the warm embrace of comfort. Disappointment awaited though, for each time she tried, she was greeted by an ambiguous silence. Back into the familiar she went and like Symphony’s cage, she left the door to the world unlocked but sat within it and while Symphony sang her song, she wept trapped tears that never escaped through her eyes as she stared at the open door. Once again she drowned in the thoughts that were of all of the above. The end!