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caged bird
the caged bird sings for those who lock it away
desperate to please
even to please those who clipped his wings
wings that were built for his freedom
destroyed for the sacrificial madness of his captors
his pretty song is one of strangled mercy
what a shame, what a shame
they all mistake his cry for help
as another beautiful melody for biased ears
its bruises a metaphor for the sky it longs to call home
the struggle of its own morality heavier than the iron bars that guard it from the fate it deserves to fight for
sometimes the bird thinks the bars aren't real
just a mirage of its own secrets and pernicious promises
all that it is has been broken
left behind when he was taken
like the illusory smoke that chases his master's cigarettes
after a while, it gives up
for a caged bird can only sings so long before it becomes convinced that it deserves its cage
eventually it stops crying out
its life laid out like broken sea glass
or the shards of a bottle cast to the gutter
eventually the bird lost its battle with the very cloudsit longed to chase.
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