-Rabindranath Tagore
THE TAME BIRD AND THE FREE BIRDThey met when the time came; it was a decree of fate.
The free bird cries. “Oh my love, let us fly to the woods.”
The caged bird whispers “Come here, let us both settle in a cage.”
Says the free bird, “Among the bars, where is the room to spread one’s wings?”
“Alas,” cries the caged bird, “I should not know where to sit perched in the skies.”
The free bird cries, “My darling, sing the songs of the woodlands.”
The caged bird says, “Sit by my side; I’ll teach you the speech I learned.”
The forest bird cries, “No, ah no! Songs can never be taught.”
The caged bird says, “Alas for me, I know not the songs of the woodlands.”
Their love is intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing.
Through the bars of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each other.
They flutter their wings in yearning and sing, “Come close, my love!”
The caged bird whispers, “Alas, my wings are powerless and dead.