Sympathy

Listen to: 

Sympathy (1:28)

by Paul Laurence Dunbar 

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

  I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

    When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

  When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,

  And the river flows like a stream of glass;

    When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,

  And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--

  I know what the caged bird feels!

  I know why the caged bird beats his wing

    Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;

  For he must fly back to his perch and cling

  When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;

    And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars

  And they pulse again with a keener sting--

  I know why he beats his wing!

  I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--

  When he beats his bars and he would be free;

  It is not a carol of joy or glee,

    But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

  But a plea, / that upward to Heaven he flings--

  I know why the caged bird sings!