Once upon a time
There lived a bird.
She wanted to fly
In the skies
Far away
In search of freedom.
She lived in a cage
Near a tree
Where sat a wise sage.
He was bound to the earth
Deep in penance and meditation,
In scorn, she watched him all day
And dreamt of flying away
In search of freedom.
One day, she pecked the cage hard with her beak,
The sage opened an eye
The door opened,
Knowingly, the sage smiled.
Out she flew in the wind,
Like a boat on sail
But couldn't get far from her cage,
It stuck to her tail !
Like a friend,
On her search for freedom.
She rode the pink sky
With her cage tagging behind
She went where it snowed,
Hopped where it shined
She met seagulls,
Climbed great rocks.
She flew
Where men feared to tread
In search,
But didn't find freedom.
Whenever she went,
Her cage trailed behind
'I'd give up anything, even my wings', she cried
I am a free bird, but I am not
Free from the prisons
Of my mind.
When she had combed the ends of earth,
And still not found her freedom
She went home,
To the wise sage
And bowed her head for an answer
In submission.
"O wise sage !
I searched, I sought, I looked,
And yet didn't find
Is freedom a myth then?
Or is it me who's blind ?"
"But child, you didn't look" said the sage
"You merely gazed at the scenery"
I stood still, and had an epiphany
I was a prisoner of my mind
My cage, my prison,
My freedom, my search
Lay within me.