Do you know why the caged bird sings?
I have a few suspicions of my own.
Maybe it just makes a racket, hoping to be thrown out because of its warden's annoyance. Released back to where it first came from.
Maybe it is as a thanks to its capturer, for saving it from a worse fate. Its singing is a thank-you, meager, but heart-felt.
Maybe, just maybe, it realizes its full potential is not being reached. So it sings in hopes of having its talents recognized, so it'll be put on prominent display, for others to enjoy the music.
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
And then there's all that stuff about how it sings because it has hope, because it has a dream to be freed, but it'll keep up its spirits until then.
Stupid birds.
But that's reason enough to let one go.
Maybe showing it what the world's really like will make it more thankful, make it want to return to the safety of its cage. Or maybe, more sinisterly, it'll be made so it can't stay out of its cage, it's inexplicably drawn back for an unknown reason.
Maybe it'll love outside so much that it'll stay there, no matter the danger.
Or maybe it'll get into an accident and never have a choice either way.
Stupid birds.
But I guess I can learn from them. I'll take any chance I can get to break away from the cold steel bars of angry glares full of hatred, words whispered but poorly concealed, spiteful, freezing glances meant to prevent escape.
Because even though there's that morbid chance, it's still all too possible for that same fate to strike within an all encompassing jail. And I just won't - no, I can't accept that fate without a struggle.
So I'll wait for escape, and hey - maybe I'll do what I do, like how a bird will sing.
It's because it's comforting, and it gives the impression that nothing is wrong, nothing is different. Nothing has been realized. It gives you more of a chance of catching your jailer off guard.
So although those birds are stupid, I'll follow their example.
...Because I know why the caged bird sings.
A/N: Wow, that came out really sad. So we were reading an excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and I realized that, surprisingly, I had never read it before! So this is what came out of just the name.
I hope you liked it!