Bird in a Gilded Cage

Once there was a bird that lived in a gilded cage. This bird was so sad because his mate went to bird heaven not too long ago. So gloomy was he that the owner decided to open the door of the cage to set him free. Yet in his sorrow even when he knew the cage door has been opened, he dared not and cared not to fly out. He just sat there brooding in his unshared loneliness.


Then one day, from out the window near his cage he heard another bird singing in the branches of a tree. He listened and was enraptured by the beauty of the song. It had been a long time since he heard this song. And the more he listened the more convinced he was that the song was being sung for him. His tiny heart raced. Hesitatingly he warbled a few notes. Soon they were singing together, making such glorious melodies. He wanted to fly out of his cage to be with the other bird and yet, somehow, his wings were not strong enough to carry him through the air. He had been confined for too long that his wings had grown weak. Still the other bird sang to him every morning bringing joy to his soul. With an effort he flapped his wings with the firm determination that one day his pinions will carry him out of his cage, out of the window, up in the air and then beside the lovely bird that gave him a reason to once again soar into the blue skies.


Thank you, Cynthia, for singing to me every morning! I am still flapping my wings and they are growing stronger each day.


...written in the last few days of 2003