Tuesday 17 June 2014

A short theory of why the caged bird sings.

Marwan from Holy Land Trust with canaries

There are many, many caged birds in the Old City of Jerusalem and I’ve often wondered why.  Sometimes it seems ironic to me, that a people so lacking in freedom keep birds in captivity. 

There’s the ice cream man’s grey parrot who often greets me as I pass with a raspy, ‘Hello’ or ‘Shalom’. 




There is a multitude of bright yellow canaries in tiny cages above shops, singing their hearts out in the narrow streets. 




One day I came across two boys – twins – carrying an enormous bird of prey through the heart of the Moslem Quarter.



When Maya Angelou, the great poet, writer and Civil Rights activist died recently, I listened to her reading an email from Rachel Corrie to her mother on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ8ilbm6Y_A&list=PL08B8CC403A7C6AFB

It was particularly poignant because I had just been with some of my colleagues to the Israeli Supreme Court to hear the appeal against the court ruling on her death.  In 2003, Rachel was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, trying to prevent a house demolition.  The district court in Haifa had ruled that her death was an accident but her parents believed otherwise.  Whether her death was an accident or not, Rachel Corrie died for what she believed in – the right of autonomy and freedom for the people of Palestine. 

And  then I read again Angelou's famous poem Caged Bird, which gives the title to her first volume of autobiography.  Here it is:


A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind   
and floats downstream   
till the current ends
and dips his wing
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 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.


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.

So many caged birds singing in Palestine.  So many people longing for freedom from the occupation.   Maybe I understand now.






I work for Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) as an ecumenical accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained in this email are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of QPSW or the World Council of Churches. If you would like to publish the information contained here (including posting it on a website), or distribute it further, please first contact the QPSW Programme Manager for Middle East teresap@quaker.org.uk for permission. Thank you.

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