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.