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Flightless Silence
May 28, 2022
I wake to the birds singing in my ear
their aria floating through the air
what joy it must bring to listen to their cheerful chorale.
People are like birds, you know,
twittering from sunup to sundown,
soaring from day to day on the breeze of life-
What sorrow it must bring to be a bird without feathers,
without wings without color, without song,
limited endeavors,
dulled life,
no future in sight.
I am also a bird,
a bird with wings,
with flight, hue, and melody-
Yet I cannot sing; I cannot fly;
I am lackluster, day and night;
As you are my liberation, my ether, my dye.
For a bird without sky cannot sing,
and a bird without freedom cannot-
fly.
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There is a story about a king who captured a nightingale because he loved the birdsong, yet was frustrated that it stopped singing after being imprisoned. This poem was actually written working backward, starting with the last two lines, which were inspired by the king's nightingale.
It refers to the limitations placed on you by yourself or another person, where you're at a crossroads between being unable to fly/sing and knowing you are able to. Yet you are being prevented from showing those talents because of someone else (or yourself), but you still cannot let go of that person or escape from the issues arising even though they are preventing your growth.